Algorithmic

At some stage in my life, I was trained to convert processes into algorithms. The great thing about this training is that it is of great utility in many other disciplines besides the one in which I learnt this.

Take for example the definition of a natural number. It is easy (although it might be tedious) to prove if a number is a natural number by using this algorithm (which is something I just came up with, but which I'm sure anyone can do likewise):

1. Accept a given real number, x.
2. Is the number zero? If so, the number is/was a natural number and you terminate.
3. Subtract 1. Is the number less than zero? If so, the number was not a natural number and you terminate.
4. Repeat step 3.

Of course, there are possibly more efficient ways of doing this, but this way is 100% effective. Note: some mathematicians don't treat zero as a natural number; if you're one of them, just change 'zero' in steps 2 and 3 to read '1' instead.

You can do this with all kinds of things for the sake of fun, profit, indulgence, curiosity or perversity. It helps you do things like mentally convert any kind of distribution to one that can be compared to a normal distribution, for example. It can even help you write the minutes of meetings before the meeting is carried out. Seriously. Used to do that all the time, they were that predictable...