An introduction to algorithms for readers with no background in advanced mathematics or computer science, emphasizing examples and real-world problems. Algorithms are what we do in order not to have to do something. Algorithms consist of instructions to carry out tasks?usually dull, repetitive ones. Starting from simple building blocks, computer algorithms enable machines to recognize and produce speech, translate texts, categorize and summarize documents, describe images, and predict the weather. A task that would take hours can be completed in virtually no time by using a few lines of code in a modern scripting program. This book offers an introduction to algorithms through the real-world problems they solve. The algorithms are presented in pseudocode and can readily be implemented in a computer language.