Since the very first days of computer science — a field known for its methodical approach to problem-solving — randomness has played an important role. The first program to run on the world’s first ...

As society attempts to solve more and more problems computationally, the need for efficient algorithms to solve these problems continues to grow. Just as importantly, to be able to apply or adapt ...

Algorithms are all around us, governing everything from the recipes we use to cook dinner to the routes our navigational systems suggest we take to avoid traffic. But what exactly is an algorithm? In ...

The Foundations of Data Structures and Algorithms specialization includes two optional preparation courses and a three-course pathway to earn admission to the Online MS in Computer Science. You must ...

In algorithms, as in life, negativity can be a drag. Consider the problem of finding the shortest path between two points on a graph — a network of nodes connected by links, or edges. Often, these ...

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. If you want to solve a tricky problem, it often helps to get organized. You might, for example, break the problem into pieces and tackle ...