How broad is the meaning of "algorithm"? This is a purely terminological question.

The word algorithm, as I have learnt it refers to something like an "effective method, a sequence of steps, for doing something". There are alternative statements giving roughly the same idea.

But for some computer systems, such as neural networks, it is somewhat stretching it (for me) to say that they are "algorithms".  e.g. neural networks are very "approximate" compared to traditional software algorithms.


Would people in general say that a particular neural network with a particular parameterization (i.e. not the learning algorithm, but the resulting neural net itself) is an "algorithm")?
If not, what other word is there to refer to the more general class that contains such networks as well?
No.  A specific neural network is just the (weights) parameters of an algorithm for function approximation.

A neural network in general yes, is the algorithm for classifying a given x into a class, given a probabilistic distribution (weights).

This is like asking weather a specific VAT rate is an algorithm.  The calculation of VAT is an algorithm but the VAT rate is not.