What is an algorithm?

Did you know the very first computer program was written in 1843, before computers or even lightbulbs were invented?! Join Mira and Finn on an amazing time-travel adventure back to Victorian London to discover the magic of algorithms! An algorithm is just a simple list of exact steps—like a recipe for baking a cake, but for math and logic! In this episode, we meet a brilliant mathematician named Ada Lovelace. When she saw the plans for a massive, steam-powered mechanical calculator called the Analytical Engine made entirely of brass cogs and gears, she saw the future! She wrote a famous set of instructions called Note G, which became the world's very first computer program. Ada even predicted that one day, machines like this could compose beautiful music! Find out how Ada's brilliant steps were meant to be fed into the machine using punched cardboard cards, and learn how her amazing ideas are still used today in every single app, map, and video game on your phone! Get ready to discover the magic hiding in the math!