Algorithms Study Guide

Algorithms are a set of well-defined instructions to solve a problem or perform a computation. Standard algorithms are commonly used and provide foundational understanding in computer science for tasks like sorting and searching data. Sorting algorithms arrange data in a specific order (e.g., ascending or descending), while searching algorithms find a specific item within a dataset. Key examples include Bubble Sort, Merge Sort, Linear Search, and Binary Search. Each of these algorithms has distinct characteristics regarding their efficiency, complexity, and how they approach the problem. For instance, Bubble Sort is simple but less efficient for large datasets, whereas Merge Sort is generally more efficient. Linear Search works on unsorted lists, while Binary Search requires a sorted list but is much faster for large lists.