6,083 research outputs found

    Do Goedel's incompleteness theorems set absolute limits on the ability of the brain to express and communicate mental concepts verifiably?

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    Classical interpretations of Goedel's formal reasoning imply that the truth of some arithmetical propositions of any formal mathematical language, under any interpretation, is essentially unverifiable. However, a language of general, scientific, discourse cannot allow its mathematical propositions to be interpreted ambiguously. Such a language must, therefore, define mathematical truth verifiably. We consider a constructive interpretation of classical, Tarskian, truth, and of Goedel's reasoning, under which any formal system of Peano Arithmetic is verifiably complete. We show how some paradoxical concepts of Quantum mechanics can be expressed, and interpreted, naturally under a constructive definition of mathematical truth.Comment: 73 pages; this is an updated version of the NQ essay; an HTML version is available at http://alixcomsi.com/Do_Goedel_incompleteness_theorems.ht

    Variable elimination for building interpreters

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    In this paper, we build an interpreter by reusing host language functions instead of recoding mechanisms of function application that are already available in the host language (the language which is used to build the interpreter). In order to transform user-defined functions into host language functions we use combinatory logic : lambda-abstractions are transformed into a composition of combinators. We provide a mechanically checked proof that this step is correct for the call-by-value strategy with imperative features.Comment: 33 page

    Very Simple Chaitin Machines for Concrete AIT

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    In 1975, Chaitin introduced his celebrated Omega number, the halting probability of a universal Chaitin machine, a universal Turing machine with a prefix-free domain. The Omega number's bits are {\em algorithmically random}--there is no reason the bits should be the way they are, if we define ``reason'' to be a computable explanation smaller than the data itself. Since that time, only {\em two} explicit universal Chaitin machines have been proposed, both by Chaitin himself. Concrete algorithmic information theory involves the study of particular universal Turing machines, about which one can state theorems with specific numerical bounds, rather than include terms like O(1). We present several new tiny Chaitin machines (those with a prefix-free domain) suitable for the study of concrete algorithmic information theory. One of the machines, which we call Keraia, is a binary encoding of lambda calculus based on a curried lambda operator. Source code is included in the appendices. We also give an algorithm for restricting the domain of blank-endmarker machines to a prefix-free domain over an alphabet that does not include the endmarker; this allows one to take many universal Turing machines and construct universal Chaitin machines from them

    The I/O Complexity of Hybrid Algorithms for Square Matrix Multiplication

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    Asymptotically tight lower bounds are derived for the I/O complexity of a general class of hybrid algorithms computing the product of n x n square matrices combining "Strassen-like" fast matrix multiplication approach with computational complexity Theta(n^{log_2 7}), and "standard" matrix multiplication algorithms with computational complexity Omega (n^3). We present a novel and tight Omega ((n/max{sqrt M, n_0})^{log_2 7}(max{1,(n_0)/M})^3M) lower bound for the I/O complexity of a class of "uniform, non-stationary" hybrid algorithms when executed in a two-level storage hierarchy with M words of fast memory, where n_0 denotes the threshold size of sub-problems which are computed using standard algorithms with algebraic complexity Omega (n^3). The lower bound is actually derived for the more general class of "non-uniform, non-stationary" hybrid algorithms which allow recursive calls to have a different structure, even when they refer to the multiplication of matrices of the same size and in the same recursive level, although the quantitative expressions become more involved. Our results are the first I/O lower bounds for these classes of hybrid algorithms. All presented lower bounds apply even if the recomputation of partial results is allowed and are asymptotically tight. The proof technique combines the analysis of the Grigoriev\u27s flow of the matrix multiplication function, combinatorial properties of the encoding functions used by fast Strassen-like algorithms, and an application of the Loomis-Whitney geometric theorem for the analysis of standard matrix multiplication algorithms. Extensions of the lower bounds for a parallel model with P processors are also discussed
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