Deterministic Algorithm

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What Does Deterministic Algorithm Mean?

A deterministic algorithm is an algorithm that is purely determined by its inputs, where no randomness is involved in the model. Deterministic algorithms will always come up with the same result given the same inputs.

Techopedia Explains Deterministic Algorithm

By contrast, probabilistic models include an element of probability. One way to think about probabilistic and deterministic models is to think about linear programming, where in earlier traditional paradigms, results were purely deterministic.

More recently, with the development of weighted inputs and various tools, programs can inject an element of probability into results which often provide sophisticated dynamic results instead of static results that are associated with purely deterministic algorithms.

If, for example, a machine learning program takes a certain set of inputs and chooses one of a set of array units based on probability, that action may have to be “verified” by a deterministic model – or the machine will continue to make these choices and self-analyze to “learn” in the conceptual sense.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.