<p>This is a bad wiki excerpt; it is imprecise and too lengthy (see <a href="https://stats.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2848">What is the optimal length &amp; level of detail of tag wiki excerpts?</a>)</p>

<p>Wikipedia defines <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">algorithm</a> as "an unambiguous specification of how to solve a class of problems". This sounds good to me. I would replace the wiki excerpt by</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>An unambiguous specification of how to solve a class of problems [Wikipedia]</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I think it's fine to copy a definition from elsewhere, in particular for the non-statistical terms. (For statistical terms, it often does make sense to write a wiki excerpt that is tailored for our site.)</p>

<p><strong>Update:</strong> Based on the discussion in the comments, here is my preferred version based on @Scortchi's wording:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>An unambiguous list of computational steps involved in finding a solution to a class of problems.</p>
</blockquote>
