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Semi-algorithm
In computability theory and computational complexity theory, RE (Recursively enumerable set, recursively enumerable) is the complexity class, class of decision problems for which a 'yes' answer can be verified by a Turing machine in a finite amount of time. Informally, it means that if the answer to a problem instance is 'yes', then there is some procedure that takes finite time to determine this, and this procedure never falsely reports 'yes' when the true answer is 'no'. However, when the true answer is 'no', the procedure is not required to halt; it may go into an "infinite loop" for some 'no' cases. Such a procedure is sometimes called a semi-algorithm, to distinguish it from an algorithm, defined as a complete solution to a decision problem. Similarly, co-RE is the set of all languages that are complements of a language in RE. In a sense, co-RE contains languages of which membership can be disproved in a finite amount of time, but proving membership might take forever. Equival ... [...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 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 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 subrecursive hierarchies, formal methods, and formal languages. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halting Problem
In 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. Alan Turing proved in 1936 that a general algorithm to solve the halting problem for all possible program–input pairs cannot exist. For any program that might determine whether programs halt, a "pathological" program , called with some input, can pass its own source and its input to ''f'' and then specifically do the opposite of what ''f'' predicts ''g'' will do. No ''f'' can exist that handles this case. A key part of the proof is a mathematical definition of a computer and program, which is known as a Turing machine; the halting problem is '' undecidable'' over Turing machines. It is one of the first cases of decision problems proven to be unsolvable. This proof is significant to practical computing efforts, defining a class of applications which no programming inventi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diophantine Equation
In mathematics, a Diophantine equation is an equation, typically a polynomial equation in two or more unknowns with integer coefficients, such that the only solutions of interest are the integer ones. A linear Diophantine equation equates to a constant the sum of two or more monomials, each of degree one. An exponential Diophantine equation is one in which unknowns can appear in exponents. Diophantine problems have fewer equations than unknowns and involve finding integers that solve simultaneously all equations. As such systems of equations define algebraic curves, algebraic surfaces, or, more generally, algebraic sets, their study is a part of algebraic geometry that is called ''Diophantine geometry''. The word ''Diophantine'' refers to the Hellenistic mathematician of the 3rd century, Diophantus of Alexandria, who made a study of such equations and was one of the first mathematicians to introduce symbolism into algebra. The mathematical study of Diophantine problems that Di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Post Correspondence Problem
The Post correspondence problem is an undecidable decision problem that was introduced by Emil Post in 1946. Because it is simpler than the halting problem and the ''Entscheidungsproblem'' it is often used in proofs of undecidability. Definition of the problem Let A be an alphabet with at least two symbols. The input of the problem consists of two finite lists \alpha_, \ldots, \alpha_ and \beta_, \ldots, \beta_ of words over A. A solution to this problem is a sequence of indices (i_k)_ with K \ge 1 and 1 \le i_k \le N for all k, such that : \alpha_ \ldots \alpha_ = \beta_ \ldots \beta_. The decision problem then is to decide whether such a solution exists or not. Alternative definition :g: (i_1,\ldots,i_K) \mapsto \alpha_ \ldots \alpha_ :h: (i_1,\ldots,i_K) \mapsto \beta_ \ldots \beta_. This gives rise to an equivalent alternative definition often found in the literature, according to which any two homomorphisms g,h with a common domain and a common codomain form an in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
First-order Logic
First-order logic—also known as predicate logic, quantificational logic, and first-order predicate calculus—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, so that rather than propositions such as "Socrates is a man", one can have expressions in the form "there exists x such that x is Socrates and x is a man", where "there exists''"'' is a quantifier, while ''x'' is a variable. 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 is usually a first-order logic together with a specified domain of discourse (over which the quantified variables range), finitely many functions from that domain to itself, finitely many predicates defined on that domain, and a set of ax ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Validity (logic)
In logic, specifically in deductive reasoning, an argument is valid if and only if it takes a form that makes it impossible for the premises to be true and the conclusion nevertheless to be false. It is not required for a valid argument to have premises that are actually true, but to have premises that, if they were true, would guarantee the truth of the argument's conclusion. Valid arguments must be clearly expressed by means of sentences called well-formed formulas (also called ''wffs'' or simply ''formulas''). The validity of an argument can be tested, proved or disproved, and depends on its logical form. Arguments In logic, an argument is a set of statements expressing the ''premises'' (whatever consists of empirical evidences and axiomatic truths) and an ''evidence-based conclusion.'' An argument is ''valid'' if and only if it would be contradictory for the conclusion to be false if all of the premises are true. Validity doesn't require the truth of the premises, inst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Formal Grammar
In formal language theory, a grammar (when the context is not given, often called a formal grammar for clarity) describes how to form strings from a language's alphabet that are valid according to the language's syntax. A grammar does not describe the meaning of the strings or what can be done with them in whatever context—only their form. A formal grammar is defined as a set of production rules for such strings in a formal language. Formal language theory, the discipline that studies formal grammars and languages, is a branch of applied mathematics. Its applications are found in theoretical computer science, theoretical linguistics, formal semantics, mathematical logic, and other areas. A formal grammar is a set of rules for rewriting strings, along with a "start symbol" from which rewriting starts. Therefore, a grammar is usually thought of as a language generator. However, it can also sometimes be used as the basis for a "recognizer"—a function in computing that deter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unrestricted Grammar
In automata theory, the class of unrestricted grammars (also called semi-Thue, type-0 or phrase structure grammars) is the most general class of grammars in the Chomsky hierarchy. No restrictions are made on the productions of an unrestricted grammar, other than each of their left-hand sides being non-empty. This grammar class can generate arbitrary recursively enumerable languages. Formal definition An unrestricted grammar is a formal grammar G = (N, T, P, S), where * N is a finite set of nonterminal symbols, * T is a finite set of terminal symbols with N and T disjoint,Actually, T\cap N=\emptyset is not strictly necessary since unrestricted grammars make no real distinction between the two. The designation exists purely so that one knows when to stop generating sentential forms of the grammar; more precisely, the language L(G) recognized by G is restricted to strings of terminal symbols. * P is a finite set of production rules of the form \alpha \to \beta , where \alpha and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Word Problem For Groups
In mathematics, especially in the area of abstract algebra known as combinatorial group theory, the word problem for a finitely generated group ''G'' is the algorithmic problem of deciding whether two words in the generators represent the same element. More precisely, if ''A'' is a finite set of generators for ''G'' then the word problem is the membership problem for the formal language of all words in ''A'' and a formal set of inverses that map to the identity under the natural map from the free monoid with involution on ''A'' to the group ''G''. If ''B'' is another finite generating set for ''G'', then the word problem over the generating set ''B'' is equivalent to the word problem over the generating set ''A''. Thus one can speak unambiguously of the decidability of the word problem for the finitely generated group ''G''. The related but different uniform word problem for a class ''K'' of recursively presented groups is the algorithmic problem of deciding, given as input a pres ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Semigroup
In mathematics, a semigroup is an algebraic structure consisting of a set together with an associative internal binary operation on it. The binary operation of a semigroup is most often denoted multiplicatively: ''x''·''y'', or simply ''xy'', denotes the result of applying the semigroup operation to the ordered pair . Associativity is formally expressed as that for all ''x'', ''y'' and ''z'' in the semigroup. Semigroups may be considered a special case of magmas, where the operation is associative, or as a generalization of groups, without requiring the existence of an identity element or inverses. The closure axiom is implied by the definition of a binary operation on a set. Some authors thus omit it and specify three axioms for a group and only one axiom (associativity) for a semigroup. As in the case of groups or magmas, the semigroup operation need not be commutative, so ''x''·''y'' is not necessarily equal to ''y''·''x''; a well-known example of an operation that is as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Group (mathematics)
In mathematics, a group is a Set (mathematics), set and an Binary operation, operation that combines any two Element (mathematics), elements of the set to produce a third element of the set, in such a way that the operation is Associative property, associative, an identity element exists and every element has an Inverse element, inverse. These three axioms hold for Number#Main classification, number systems and many other mathematical structures. For example, the integers together with the addition operation form a group. The concept of a group and the axioms that define it were elaborated for handling, in a unified way, essential structural properties of very different mathematical entities such as numbers, geometric shapes and polynomial roots. Because the concept of groups is ubiquitous in numerous areas both within and outside mathematics, some authors consider it as a central organizing principle of contemporary mathematics. In geometry groups arise naturally in the study of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Word Problem (mathematics)
In computational mathematics, a word problem is the problem of deciding whether two given expressions are equivalent with respect to a set of rewriting identities. A prototypical example is the word problem for groups, but there are many other instances as well. A deep result of computational theory is that answering this question is in many important cases undecidable. Background and motivation In computer algebra one often wishes to encode mathematical expressions using an expression tree. But there are often multiple equivalent expression trees. The question naturally arises of whether there is an algorithm which, given as input two expressions, decides whether they represent the same element. Such an algorithm is called a ''solution to the word problem''. For example, imagine that x,y,z are symbols representing real numbers - then a relevant solution to the word problem would, given the input (x \cdot y)/z \mathrel (x/z)\cdot y, produce the output EQUAL, and similarly pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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