• Algorithms are all around you.
• Well... unless you're camping in the wilderness with no technology.
• So, aside from escaping to the great outdoors, chances are you've interacted with several algorithms today.
• They're in Google, grabbing your search results.
• They're in Netflix, recommending shows.
• They're on websites, tracking which links you click.
• They're unlocking your phone, using fingerprint and face detection.
• They're in elevators, deciding which floor to go to.
• They're in maps, giving you directions.
• This list could get really long ...
• Where are some places you've noticed algorithms?

• What are algorithms, and how can we use them to take over the world?

• This video may not have answered the second question, but keep reading ...

• Consider a simple procedural algorithm for making a PB&J:
• Get two slices of bread
• Spread peanut butter on one side
• Put jam on the other side
• Squish them together

• Notice how there weren't any decisions to make? Sometimes an algorithm is just a set of steps.

• However, sometimes we need a decision-making algorithm.
• Consider the same algorithm, but we don't know what ingredients are available:
• Get two slices of bread
• If we have peanut butter
• Put peanut butter on one side
• Otherwise, if we have chocolate spread
• Put chocolate spread on one side
• Then, if we have jam
• Put jam on the other side
• Otherwise, if we have bananas
• Put bananas on the other side
• Squish them together

• This algorithm is making two different decisions.
• How many different kinds of sandwiches can it create? Think for a second ... then scroll down.

• If you guessed four, you're on the right track ...
• However, what if there is no peanut butter and no nutella?
• When we account for no toppings, each decision has three possible outcomes.
• There are now more than four possible sandwiches we could make here.
• Including one very sad sandwich with nothing but bread :(

• Algorithms can do some pretty neat stuff!
• Genetic algorithms in simulations
• Pathfinding algorithms in games
• Machine learning algorithms in AI
• Procedural generation algorithms (eg: Minecraft!)
• Brute force algorithms in computer security
• Sudoku solving algorithms
• Plus many more!
• Each of these algorithms can generally be classified into different types:

• Algorithms are already part of our civilization. The next 20 years will determine just how much they take over ...

• Are there places that algorithms shouldn't go?
• Here's a look into how some schools are putting algorithms in the classroom:

• Imagine you have a platter of sushi. In fact, you own a whole restaurant that sells sushi!
• Rolls are 10$
• Sashimi are 20$
• Everything else is 12$
• If a platter has more than 10 sushi, it gets a free tempura.
• If a platter has more than 20 sushi, it gets a 20% discount.
  
  
• Given any platter, no mater what sushi are on it, you could use these rules to figure out the cost.
• Your goal is to write an algorithm in pseudocode (regular english) to calculate the cost of any platter. If you're stuck, try and think of what you, a human, would do to solve this problem.
• Write your sushi-sorting algorithm in a Google doc.
• Then at the bottom, answer a hypothetical question: If you had the most powerful computer in the world, what problem would you solve with an algorithm?
• Submit your doc as your evidence of learning in this unit.