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Decider (Turing Machine)
In computability theory, a decider is a Turing machine that halts for every input. A decider is also called a total Turing machineKozen, 1997 as it represents a total function. Because it always halts, such a machine is able to decide whether a given string is a member of a formal language. The class of languages which can be decided by such machines is the set of recursive languages. Given an arbitrary Turing machine, determining whether it is a decider is an undecidable problem. This is a variant of the halting problem, which asks for whether a Turing machine halts on a specific input. Functions computable by total Turing machines In practice, many functions of interest are computable by machines that always halt. A machine that uses only finite memory on any particular input can be forced to halt for every input by restricting its flow control capabilities so that no input will ever cause the machine to enter an infinite loop. As a trivial example, a machine implementi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computability Theory
Computability theory, also known as recursion theory, is a branch of mathematical logic, computer science, and the theory of computation that originated in the 1930s with the study of computable functions and Turing degrees. The field has since expanded to include the study of generalized computability and definable set, definability. In these areas, computability theory overlaps with proof theory and effective descriptive set theory. Basic questions addressed by computability theory include: * What does it mean for a function (mathematics), function on the natural numbers to be computable? * How can noncomputable functions be classified into a hierarchy based on their level of noncomputability? Although there is considerable overlap in terms of knowledge and methods, mathematical computability theorists study the theory of relative computability, reducibility notions, and degree structures; those in the computer science field focus on the theory of computational complexity theory ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Partial Functions
In mathematics, a partial function from a set to a set is a function from a subset of (possibly the whole itself) to . The subset , that is, the '' domain'' of viewed as a function, is called the domain of definition or natural domain of . If equals , that is, if is defined on every element in , then is said to be a total function. In other words, a partial function is a binary relation over two sets that associates to every element of the first set ''at most'' one element of the second set; it is thus a univalent relation. This generalizes the concept of a (total) function by not requiring ''every'' element of the first set to be associated to an element of the second set. A partial function is often used when its exact domain of definition is not known, or is difficult to specify. However, even when the exact domain of definition is known, partial functions are often used for simplicity or brevity. This is the case in calculus, where, for example, the quotient of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Total Functional Programming
Total functional programming (also known as strong functional programming, to be contrasted with ordinary, or ''weak'' functional programming) is a programming paradigm that restricts the range of programs to those that are provably terminating. Restrictions Termination is guaranteed by the following restrictions: # A restricted form of recursion, which operates only upon 'reduced' forms of its arguments, such as Walther recursion, substructural recursion, or "strongly normalizing" as proven by abstract interpretation of code. # Every function must be a total (as opposed to partial) function. That is, it must have a definition for everything inside its domain. #* There are several possible ways to extend commonly used partial functions such as division to be total: choosing an arbitrary result for inputs on which the function is normally undefined (such as \forall x \in \mathbb. x \div 0 = 0 for division); adding another argument to specify the result for those inputs; or excl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BlooP And FlooP
and (Bounded loop and Free loop) are simple programming languages designed by Douglas Hofstadter to illustrate a point in his book ''Gödel, Escher, Bach''. BlooP is a Turing-incomplete programming language whose main control flow structure is a bounded loop (i.e. recursion is not permitted). All programs in the language must terminate, and this language can only express primitive recursive functions. FlooP is identical to BlooP except that it supports unbounded loops; it is a Turing-complete language and can express all computable functions. For example, it can express the Ackermann function, which (not being primitive recursive) cannot be written in BlooP. Borrowing from standard terminology in mathematical logic,Hofstadter (1979), p. 424. Hofstadter calls FlooP's unbounded loops MU-loops. Like all Turing-complete programming languages, FlooP suffers from the halting problem: programs might not terminate, and it is not possible, in general, to decide which programs do. BlooP ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Goodstein Sequence
In mathematical logic, Goodstein's theorem is a statement about the natural numbers, proved by Reuben Goodstein in 1944, which states that every Goodstein sequence (as defined below) eventually terminates at 0. Laurence Kirby and Jeff Paris showed that it is unprovable in Peano arithmetic (but it can be proven in stronger systems, such as second-order arithmetic or Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory). This was the third example of a true statement about natural numbers that is unprovable in Peano arithmetic, after the examples provided by Gödel's incompleteness theorem and Gerhard Gentzen's 1943 direct proof of the unprovability of ε0-induction in Peano arithmetic. The Paris–Harrington theorem gave another example. Kirby and Paris introduced a graph-theoretic hydra game with behavior similar to that of Goodstein sequences: the "Hydra" (named for the mythological multi-headed Hydra of Lerna) is a rooted tree, and a move consists of cutting off one of its "heads" (a branch of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gödel's Incompleteness Theorems
Gödel's incompleteness theorems are two theorems of mathematical logic that are concerned with the limits of in formal axiomatic theories. These results, published by Kurt Gödel in 1931, are important both in mathematical logic and in the philosophy of mathematics. The theorems are widely, but not universally, interpreted as showing that Hilbert's program to find a complete and consistent set of axioms for all mathematics is impossible. The first incompleteness theorem states that no consistency, consistent system of axioms whose theorems can be listed by an effective procedure (i.e. an algorithm) is capable of Mathematical proof, proving all truths about the arithmetic of natural numbers. For any such consistent formal system, there will always be statements about natural numbers that are true, but that are unprovable within the system. The second incompleteness theorem, an extension of the first, shows that the system cannot demonstrate its own consistency. Employing a Ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Consistent
In deductive logic, a consistent theory is one that does not lead to a logical contradiction. A theory T is consistent if there is no formula \varphi such that both \varphi and its negation \lnot\varphi are elements of the set of consequences of T. Let A be a set of closed sentences (informally "axioms") and \langle A\rangle the set of closed sentences provable from A under some (specified, possibly implicitly) formal deductive system. The set of axioms A is consistent when there is no formula \varphi such that \varphi \in \langle A \rangle and \lnot \varphi \in \langle A \rangle. A ''trivial'' theory (i.e., one which proves every sentence in the language of the theory) is clearly inconsistent. Conversely, in an explosive formal system (e.g., classical or intuitionistic propositional or first-order logics) every inconsistent theory is trivial. Consistency of a theory is a syntactic notion, whose semantic counterpart is satisfiability. A theory is satisfiable if it has a mod ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soundness
In logic and deductive reasoning, an argument is sound if it is both Validity (logic), valid in form and has no false premises. Soundness has a related meaning in mathematical logic, wherein a Formal system, formal system of logic is sound if and only if every well-formed formula that can be proven in the system is logically valid with respect to the Semantics of logic, logical semantics of the system. Definition In deductive reasoning, a sound argument is an argument that is Validity (logic), valid and all of its premises are true (and as a consequence its conclusion is true as well). An argument is valid if, assuming its premises are true, the conclusion ''must be'' true. An example of a sound argument is the following well-known syllogism: : ''(premises)'' : All men are mortal. : Socrates is a man. : ''(conclusion)'' : Therefore, Socrates is mortal. Because of the logical necessity of the conclusion, this argument is valid; and because the argument is valid and its premises ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peano Arithmetic
In mathematical logic, the Peano axioms (, ), also known as the Dedekind–Peano axioms or the Peano postulates, are axioms for the natural numbers presented by the 19th-century Italian mathematician Giuseppe Peano. These axioms have been used nearly unchanged in a number of metamathematical investigations, including research into fundamental questions of whether number theory is consistent and complete. The axiomatization of arithmetic provided by Peano axioms is commonly called Peano arithmetic. The importance of formalizing arithmetic was not well appreciated until the work of Hermann Grassmann, who showed in the 1860s that many facts in arithmetic could be derived from more basic facts about the successor operation and induction. In 1881, Charles Sanders Peirce provided an axiomatization of natural-number arithmetic. In 1888, Richard Dedekind proposed another axiomatization of natural-number arithmetic, and in 1889, Peano published a simplified version of them a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
First-order Logic
First-order logic, also called predicate logic, predicate calculus, or quantificational logic, is a collection of formal systems used in mathematics, philosophy, linguistics, and computer science. First-order logic uses quantified variables over non-logical objects, and allows the use of sentences that contain variables. Rather than propositions such as "all humans are mortal", in first-order logic one can have expressions in the form "for all ''x'', if ''x'' is a human, then ''x'' is mortal", where "for all ''x"'' is a quantifier, ''x'' is a variable, and "... ''is a human''" and "... ''is mortal''" are predicates. This distinguishes it from propositional logic, which does not use quantifiers or relations; in this sense, propositional logic is the foundation of first-order logic. A theory about a topic, such as set theory, a theory for groups,A. Tarski, ''Undecidable Theories'' (1953), p. 77. Studies in Logic and the Foundation of Mathematics, North-Holland or a formal theory o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halting Problem
In computability theory (computer science), computability theory, the halting problem is the problem of determining, from a description of an arbitrary computer program and an input, whether the program will finish running, or continue to run forever. The halting problem is ''Undecidable problem, undecidable'', meaning that no general algorithm exists that solves the halting problem for all possible program–input pairs. The problem comes up often in discussions of computability since it demonstrates that some functions are mathematically Definable set, definable but not Computable function, computable. A key part of the formal statement of the problem is a mathematical definition of a computer and program, usually via a Turing machine. The proof then shows, for any program that might determine whether programs halt, that a "pathological" program exists for which makes an incorrect determination. Specifically, is the program that, when called with some input, passes its own s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arithmetical Hierarchy
In mathematical logic, the arithmetical hierarchy, arithmetic hierarchy or Kleene–Mostowski hierarchy (after mathematicians Stephen Cole Kleene and Andrzej Mostowski) classifies certain sets based on the complexity of formulas that define them. Any set that receives a classification is called arithmetical. The arithmetical hierarchy was invented independently by Kleene (1943) and Mostowski (1946).P. G. Hinman, ''Recursion-Theoretic Hierarchies'' (p.89), Perspectives in Logic, 1978. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, ISBN 3-540-07904-1. The arithmetical hierarchy is important in computability theory, effective descriptive set theory, and the study of formal theories such as Peano arithmetic. The Tarski–Kuratowski algorithm provides an easy way to get an upper bound on the classifications assigned to a formula and the set it defines. The hyperarithmetical hierarchy and the analytical hierarchy extend the arithmetical hierarchy to classify additional formulas and set ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
