Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

polynomial-time algorithm
     
         A known {algorithm} (or {Turing Machine}) that is
        guaranteed to terminate within a number of steps which is a
        {polynomial} function of the size of the problem.
     
        See also {computational complexity}, {exponential time},
        {nondeterministic polynomial-time} (NP), {NP-complete}.
     
        (1995-04-13)