This issue of notation for representations of algorithms will be discussed in some detail, later. However, mainly, some combinations of mathematical symbols, English phrases and sentences, and some sort of pseudo-high-level language notations, shall be used for the purpose.
Particularly, the symbol ‘←’ is used for assignment. For example, x←y + 3, means that 3 is added to the value of the variable y and the resultant value becomes the new value of the variable x. However, the value of y remains unchanged.
If in an algorithm, more than one variables are required to store values of the same type, notation of the form A[1..n] is used to denote n variables A[1], A[2], … A[n].
In general, for the integers m, n with m ≤ n, A [m..n] is used to denote the variables A[m], A[m+1], …, A[n]. However, we must note that another similar notation A[m, n] is used to indicate the element of the matrix (or twodimensional array) A, which is in mth row and nth column.
{this algorithm finds the roots of a quadratic equation in which the coefficient of x2 is assumed to be non-zero}.
Particularly, the symbol ‘←’ is used for assignment. For example, x←y + 3, means that 3 is added to the value of the variable y and the resultant value becomes the new value of the variable x. However, the value of y remains unchanged.
If in an algorithm, more than one variables are required to store values of the same type, notation of the form A[1..n] is used to denote n variables A[1], A[2], … A[n].
In general, for the integers m, n with m ≤ n, A [m..n] is used to denote the variables A[m], A[m+1], …, A[n]. However, we must note that another similar notation A[m, n] is used to indicate the element of the matrix (or twodimensional array) A, which is in mth row and nth column.
Role and Notation for Comments
The comments do not form that part of an algorithm, corresponding to which there is an (executable) action in the process. However, the comments help the human reader of the algorithm to better understand the algorithm. In different programming languages, there are different notations for incorporating comments in algorithms. We use the convention of putting comments between pair of braces, i.e., { } . The comments may be inserted at any place within an algorithm. For example, if an algorithm finds roots of a quadratic equation, then we may add the following comments, somewhere in the beginning of the algorithm, to tell what the algorithm does:{this algorithm finds the roots of a quadratic equation in which the coefficient of x2 is assumed to be non-zero}.
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