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| Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, October 15 2012 @ 10:48 AM EDT |
>It is very easy to write software to provide the wrong answer for any math
problem.
You're thinking "fourth-grade arithmetic", not mathematics. There are
16 different answers to a "math problem" with 4-bit input -- and each
of them is mathematical.
"Wrong" or "right" is only a matter of interpretation--which
isn't part of the mathematical process.
Some of those answers are more often useful than others--but that is irrelevant
to the symbol manipulation process itself.[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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| Authored by: PolR on Monday, October 15 2012 @ 11:11 AM EDT |
An algorithm is mathematical even when you use the wrong algorithm for the
problem you want to solve.
Your argument is like saying multiplication stops being an arithmetical
calculation when you write 3+3=9 because it gives the wrong answer.
[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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| Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, October 24 2012 @ 11:52 AM EDT |
"I guess you have never programmed anything."
You GUESS wrong. I've been a programmer since the 1970's.
"It is very easy to write software to provide the wrong answer for any math
problem."
Yes, it is indeed very easy to write math that returns a wrong answer.
"Sure there is maths involved but returning the answer from 1+1=? as 'The
sky is falling' is non-mathematical"
Of course it is mathematical. On a computer 'The sky is falling' is (in most
cases) actually the number sequence 84 104 101 32 115 107 121 32 105 115 32 102
97 108 108 105 110 103.
YOU are clearly not a programmer, or you would know that.
"Switching on a switch is non-mathematical - those Mar's rovers that have
no electronic connection to Earth yet are operated non-mathematically."
The software on those Mars rovers are indeed nothing but mathematical
computations. And as I said, you can CONNECT a computer to a physical machine
that does physical stuff like scooping dirt and driving around and drilling
rocks. You can invent and patent a new and better scoop-arm-device, and you can
invent and patent a newer better rover-mechanism, and you can invent and patent
a newer and better drill-device. However the SOFTWARE is nothing but a
mathematical computation being carried out by a general computing component
which can do nothing other than compute numbers. When you send those numbers to
a scoop arm it may trigger it to scoop, and when you send those numbers to a
drive mechanism it may trigger it to drive, and when you send those numbers to a
drill it may trigger it to drill, but the software is still nothing but math and
the computer can still do nothing but compute that math. That's why it's called
a 'computer'. It computes, and the only thing you CAN compute is math.[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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