Algorithms

Can algorithms help writers think more clearly and create innovative work ? On this week's 'Algorithm Verb' Ian McMillan is joined by Helen Arney, who performs a brand new love-song (written for the programme) using search engine algorithms, by Eugenia Cheng, a mathematician and pianist who is passionate about ridding the world of 'math-phobia', by the computer scientist Ursula Martin (who writes on Ada Lovelace, often credited with the first computer 'algorithm'), and by writer Kate Pullinger who is fascinated by the potential of algorithms to make stories more haunting and personal. Verb regular, poet Ira Lightman 'becomes' a living algorithm lurking in the substrata of the programme, and creates an algorithmic villanelle. Producer: Faith Lawrence Presenter: Ian McMillan.