I am not sure I am following you.
The mathematical definition of an
algorithm has to do with how algorithms
aggregate value to
mathematics.
No. It is about symbol processing. The meaning of the
symbols is separate from the algorithm. You can have mathematical algorithms
processing meaningless symbols. Formal language theory studies
them.
An engineering definition of an algorithm must be different
because engineering
is much more than math.
I am not aware of any
engineering definition of algorithm. The algorithm is always the mathematical
notion.
My point is that symbols are an abstraction different from their
physical representation. An algorithm is also an abstraction different from the
physical manipulation of the representation of symbols. An engineer will make
devices designed to represent symbols. It is a mistake to conflate the symbol
with the representation.
Think of is like the difference between a novel, a
series of letter and a book. A novel is not a series of letters and a series of
letters is not a series of marks of ink on paper. Algorithms are located at the
same degree of abstractions as the letters. Practitioners of software patent law
have the habit of folding these three degree of abstractions into one. [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
| 
