Word.ws English Dictionary

British Museum algorithm

British Museum algorithm proper noun: a search procedure which involves generating and checking all possible scenarios.

Proper noun

the British Museum algorithm

  1. A search procedure which involves generating and checking all possible scenarios.

Origin of British Museum algorithm

Named by Newell, Shaw, and Simon in allusion to the inefficient idea of placing monkeys in front of typewriters in order to reproduce all the books in the British Museum.

Questions about British Museum algorithm

What does British Museum algorithm mean?
British Museum algorithm means a search procedure which involves generating and checking all possible scenarios.
What part of speech is British Museum algorithm?
British Museum algorithm is a proper noun.

Words near British Museum algorithm in the dictionary

  1. British Israelism
  2. British Jubaland
  3. British Longhair
  4. British Longhairs
  5. British Mandate
  6. British Museum algorithm
  7. British North America
  8. British Ogaden
  9. British Open
  10. British overseas territories
  11. British overseas territory

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: British Museum algorithm (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “British Museum algorithm.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/british_museum_algorithm. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.