Algorithmic thinking is simply the art of breaking down a chaotic, real-world problem into a precise, step-by-step sequence of instructions that even a machine can follow. We do this intuitively all the time—whether we are flipping through a phone book by splitting it in half, or sorting a hand of playing cards from smallest to largest. In computer science, this structured recipe of logical steps is called an algorithm.

No matter how complex a software application seems, it is ultimately built out of these basic, unambiguous steps. If you can clearly articulate the logic of how to solve a problem step-by-step, translating it into actual computer code later becomes a straightforward task. Let's make sure we have this fundamental definition down before we look at how to measure their efficiency.