The Ancient Greeks loved algorithms, and devised lots of useful ones. Here are some of our favourites. Use these stories and activities to cover some computing and computational thinking when studying the ancient world.

• The Sieve of Eratosthenes
  • An algorithm to work out the prime numbers, vital to online trade
  • Algorithmic thinking, computational thinking, patterns, times tables, prime numbers (and colouring).
• Histiaeus and Steganography
  • Hiding messages in plain sight
• Euclid, algorithms and rigorous proof
  • Logical proof, algorithms for drawing regular shapes, greatest common divisor algorithm
• Polybius and his square
  • telegraphy codes, communication networks, cryptography, steganography
  • coordinates
• Tacticus and the hydraulic semaphore
• Apollo, Eros, Daphne and the story of the laurel wreath
  • make a modular origami laurel wreath
  • following instructions, algorithms, procedures and procedure call
• The Scytale
  • an encryption device
  • encryption, decryption, transposition cipher
  • cylinders, diameter, circumference, literacy

More to come…

Computer Science and History

This work was supported by the Institute of Coding, which is supported by the Office for Students (OfS).