Electronic Health Records: An Audit and Internal Control Guide

CHAPTER 5

Algorithms

By nature man hates change; seldom will he quit his old home till it has actually fallen around his ears.

—THOMAS CARLYLE (1795–1881), BRITISH HISTORIAN AND ESSAYIST

BACKGROUND

An algorithm is a constructed set of specific defined procedures that executes a defined-data-driven set of analytics typically represented in a specified sequence by symbols and numbers. An algorithm answers a specific question in response to a hypothesis or to generate intelligence to create a hypothesis for further analysis. The word algorithm in itself has a very long history. The etymology of the word is noted as follows:

1699, from Fr. algorithme refashioned (under mistaken connection with Gk. arithmos “number”) from O.Fr. algorisme “the Arabic numeral system,” from M.L. algorismus, a mangled transliteration of Arabic al-Khwarizmi “native of Khwarazm,” surname of the mathematician whose works introduced sophisticated mathematics to the West (see algebra). The earlier form in M.E. was algorism (c.1230), from O.Fr. Modern use of algorithmic to describe symbolic rules or language is from 1881.¹

Algebra, an art and science of relationships, serves as the foundation of the relationship building necessary for the development of algorithms. The father of algebra, Muhammad ibn , born ...