I think the idea behind patents was that you can't patent natural phenomena and things that derive from them. Algorithms are just another way of expressing math

I think the idea behind patents was that you can't patent natural phenomena and things that derive from them. Algorithms are just another way of expressing mathematics and logic so that is what gives the rise to the idea that these things shouldn't be patentable. Mathematics and logic describe laws of nature (such as waves in the case of a Fourier transform) which exist without us "inventing" them. Magsafe connector is an engineering invention that doesn't exist or derive from anything in the nature.