On the Weak Computability of Continuous Real Functions

In computable analysis, sequences of rational numbers which effectively converge to a real number x are used as the (rho-) names of x. A real number x is computable if it has a computable name, and a real function f is computable if there is a Turing machine M which computes f in the sense that, M accepts any rho-name of x as input and outputs a rho-name of f(x) for any x in the domain of f. By weakening the effectiveness requirement of the convergence and classifying the converging speeds of rational sequences, several interesting classes of real numbers of weak computability have been introduced in literature, e.g., in addition to the class of computable real numbers (EC), we have the classes of semi-computable (SC), weakly computable (WC), divergence bounded computable (DBC) and computably approximable real numbers (CA). In this paper, we are interested in the weak computability of continuous real functions and try to introduce an analogous classification of weakly computable real functions. We present definitions of these functions by Turing machines as well as by sequences of rational polygons and prove these two definitions are not equivalent. Furthermore, we explore the properties of these functions, and among others, show their closure properties under arithmetic operations and composition

The Tsallis entropy and the Shannon entropy of a universal probability

We study the properties of Tsallis entropy and Shannon entropy from the point of view of algorithmic randomness. In algorithmic information theory, there are two equivalent ways to define the program-size complexity K(s) of a given finite binary string s. In the standard way, K(s) is defined as the length of the shortest input string for the universal self-delimiting Turing machine to output s. In the other way, the so-called universal probability m is introduced first, and then K(s) is defined as -log_2 m(s) without reference to the concept of program-size. In this paper, we investigate the properties of the Shannon entropy, the power sum, and the Tsallis entropy of a universal probability by means of the notion of program-size complexity. We determine the convergence or divergence of each of these three quantities, and evaluate its degree of randomness if it converges.Comment: 5 pages, to appear in the Proceedings of the 2008 IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory, Toronto, ON, Canada, July 6 - 11, 200

The Bolzano-Weierstrass Theorem is the Jump of Weak K\"onig's Lemma

We classify the computational content of the Bolzano-Weierstrass Theorem and variants thereof in the Weihrauch lattice. For this purpose we first introduce the concept of a derivative or jump in this lattice and we show that it has some properties similar to the Turing jump. Using this concept we prove that the derivative of closed choice of a computable metric space is the cluster point problem of that space. By specialization to sequences with a relatively compact range we obtain a characterization of the Bolzano-Weierstrass Theorem as the derivative of compact choice. In particular, this shows that the Bolzano-Weierstrass Theorem on real numbers is the jump of Weak K\"onig's Lemma. Likewise, the Bolzano-Weierstrass Theorem on the binary space is the jump of the lesser limited principle of omniscience LLPO and the Bolzano-Weierstrass Theorem on natural numbers can be characterized as the jump of the idempotent closure of LLPO. We also introduce the compositional product of two Weihrauch degrees f and g as the supremum of the composition of any two functions below f and g, respectively. We can express the main result such that the Bolzano-Weierstrass Theorem is the compositional product of Weak K\"onig's Lemma and the Monotone Convergence Theorem. We also study the class of weakly limit computable functions, which are functions that can be obtained by composition of weakly computable functions with limit computable functions. We prove that the Bolzano-Weierstrass Theorem on real numbers is complete for this class. Likewise, the unique cluster point problem on real numbers is complete for the class of functions that are limit computable with finitely many mind changes. We also prove that the Bolzano-Weierstrass Theorem on real numbers and, more generally, the unbounded cluster point problem on real numbers is uniformly low limit computable. Finally, we also discuss separation techniques.Comment: This version includes an addendum by Andrea Cettolo, Matthias Schr\"oder, and the authors of the original paper. The addendum closes a gap in the proof of Theorem 11.2, which characterizes the computational content of the Bolzano-Weierstra\ss{} Theorem for arbitrary computable metric space

Closed Choice and a Uniform Low Basis Theorem

We study closed choice principles for different spaces. Given information about what does not constitute a solution, closed choice determines a solution. We show that with closed choice one can characterize several models of hypercomputation in a uniform framework using Weihrauch reducibility. The classes of functions which are reducible to closed choice of the singleton space, of the natural numbers, of Cantor space and of Baire space correspond to the class of computable functions, of functions computable with finitely many mind changes, of weakly computable functions and of effectively Borel measurable functions, respectively. We also prove that all these classes correspond to classes of non-deterministically computable functions with the respective spaces as advice spaces. Moreover, we prove that closed choice on Euclidean space can be considered as "locally compact choice" and it is obtained as product of closed choice on the natural numbers and on Cantor space. We also prove a Quotient Theorem for compact choice which shows that single-valued functions can be "divided" by compact choice in a certain sense. Another result is the Independent Choice Theorem, which provides a uniform proof that many choice principles are closed under composition. Finally, we also study the related class of low computable functions, which contains the class of weakly computable functions as well as the class of functions computable with finitely many mind changes. As one main result we prove a uniform version of the Low Basis Theorem that states that closed choice on Cantor space (and the Euclidean space) is low computable. We close with some related observations on the Turing jump operation and its initial topology

Effective Choice and Boundedness Principles in Computable Analysis

In this paper we study a new approach to classify mathematical theorems according to their computational content. Basically, we are asking the question which theorems can be continuously or computably transferred into each other? For this purpose theorems are considered via their realizers which are operations with certain input and output data. The technical tool to express continuous or computable relations between such operations is Weihrauch reducibility and the partially ordered degree structure induced by it. We have identified certain choice principles which are cornerstones among Weihrauch degrees and it turns out that certain core theorems in analysis can be classified naturally in this structure. In particular, we study theorems such as the Intermediate Value Theorem, the Baire Category Theorem, the Banach Inverse Mapping Theorem and others. We also explore how existing classifications of the Hahn-Banach Theorem and Weak K"onig's Lemma fit into this picture. We compare the results of our classification with existing classifications in constructive and reverse mathematics and we claim that in a certain sense our classification is finer and sheds some new light on the computational content of the respective theorems. We develop a number of separation techniques based on a new parallelization principle, on certain invariance properties of Weihrauch reducibility, on the Low Basis Theorem of Jockusch and Soare and based on the Baire Category Theorem. Finally, we present a number of metatheorems that allow to derive upper bounds for the classification of the Weihrauch degree of many theorems and we discuss the Brouwer Fixed Point Theorem as an example