Algorithms Simplified

An algorithm is just a very patient, very precise recipe. If you can follow a recipe, you can learn algorithms.

Volume 1 of Algorithms Simplified starts at the very beginning. Follow Maya, a librarian, as she turns everyday questions into precise, step-by-step methods. You will see how a computer carries out an algorithm, write algorithms down clearly, and learn to measure their cost with Big O, best, worst and average cases, and space. You will then master recursion through the Tower of Hanoi and recursion trees, and finish with every kind of search: binary search in all its forms, search on the answer, rotated and two-dimensional data, exponential, interpolation and ternary search.

- Hundreds of colourful figures that draw the real objects, every case of every algorithm pictured
- Worked problems, exercises with solutions, practice, challenge and thinking problems
- Optional formal proofs for readers who want full rigour

Who it is for: self-learners, university students, working professionals and curious readers. No programming is needed to follow the ideas: every algorithm is told as a story, drawn as a picture and written in plain pseudocode. Readers who want to run the ideas will find tested Python for every algorithm in the free companion code.

Built for working alongside AI coding assistants: knowing the algorithms lets you ask an assistant for the right method, state the cases and the cost you need, spot an answer that is wrong or too slow, and test it before you trust it. The assistant writes the code faster; this book helps you design it well.