# ORS Tools - Mathematical methodology
**URL:** https://ask.openrouteservice.org/t/ors-tools-mathematical-methodology/4479
**Category:** QGIS
**Created:** [January 15, 2023, 11:31am UTC](https://ask.openrouteservice.org/t/ors-tools-mathematical-methodology/4479 "2023-01-15T11:31:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@leandromallmann](https://ask.openrouteservice.org/u/leandromallmann)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2023, 11:31am UTC](https://ask.openrouteservice.org/t/ors-tools-mathematical-methodology/4479/1 "2023-01-15T11:31:17Z")
Hi,
I’m trying to find out what kind of algorithm ORS Tools uses, but I haven’t been able to find a concrete answer anywhere.
- Points (2 Layers) - Shortest
- Isochrones
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### Author:  [@jschnell](https://ask.openrouteservice.org/u/jschnell)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2023, 9:07am UTC](https://ask.openrouteservice.org/t/ors-tools-mathematical-methodology/4479/2 "2023-01-16T09:07:00Z")
Hey,
the ORS Tools are just the QGIS plugin to more easily use the openrouteservice from within QGIS.
Thus, I assume you’re not interested in the plugin algorithms but rather in the openrouteservice algorithms.
First, there is no difference between the several `Points` processing algorithms - they all end up querying the openrouteservice the same way.
What routing algorithm is used depends a bit on the query parameters - usually, this will be an algorithm based on the [A\*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A*_search_algorithm) algorithm, using several speedup techniques.
The isochrone processing algorithms use a similar routing algorithm to construct a shortest path tree from a given starting point, cutting off after a given time or distance. They’ll then construct a concave hull from the found points.
Best regards