British Museum algorithm
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The British Museum algorithm is a general approach to finding a solution by checking all possibilities one by one, beginning with the smallest. The term refers to a conceptual, not a practical, technique where the number of possibilities is enormous.
Newell, Shaw, and Simon[1] called this procedure the British Museum algorithm
- "... since it seemed to them as sensible as placing monkeys in front of typewriters in order to reproduce all the books in the British Museum."
See also
Sources
- Original text by
This article incorporates public domain material from Paul E. Black. "British Museum technique". Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures. NIST..
References
- ^ Newell, A.; Shaw, J. C.; Simon, H. A. (1958). "Elements of a Theory of Human Problem Solving". Psychological Review. 65 (3). American Psychological Association: 151–166. doi:10.1037/h0048495.