2,694 research outputs found
A Complete Finite Equational Axiomatisation of the Fracterm Calculus for Common Meadows
We analyse abstract data types that model numerical structures with a concept
of error. Specifically, we focus on arithmetic data types that contain an error
flag whose main purpose is to always return a value for division. To
rings and fields we add a division operator and study a class of algebras
called \textit{common meadows} wherein . The set of equations true
in all common meadows is named the \textit{fracterm calculus of common
meadows}. We give a finite equational axiomatisation of the fracterm calculus
of common meadows and prove that it is complete and that the fracterm calculus
is decidable
Three forms of physical measurement and their computability
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
AN ANALOGUE-DIGITAL CHURCH-TURING THESIS
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Classifying the computational power of stochastic physical oracles
Consider a computability and complexity theory in which the
classical set-theoretic oracle to a Turing machine is replaced by
a physical process, and oracle queries return measurements of
physical behaviour. The idea of such physical oracles is relevant
to many disparate situations, but research has focussed on physical
oracles that were classic deterministic experiments which
measure physical quantities. In this paper, we broaden the scope
of the theory of physical oracles by tackling non-deterministic
systems. We examine examples of three types of non-determinism,
namely systems that are: (1) physically nondeterministic,
as in quantum phenomena; (2) physically deterministic but
whose physical theory is non-deterministic, as in statistical mechanics;
and (3) physically deterministic but whose computational
theory is non-deterministic caused by error margins. Physical
oracles that have probabilistic theories we call stochastic
physical oracles. We propose a set SPO of axioms for a basic
form of stochastic oracles. We prove that Turing machines
equipped with a physical oracle satisfying the axioms SPO compute
precisely the non-uniform complexity class BPP//log* in
polynomial time. This result of BPP/log* is a computational
limit to a great range of classical and non-classical measurement,
and of analogue-digital computation in polynomial time under
general conditions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Oracles that measure thresholds: The Turing machine and the broken balance
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
A hierarchy for BPP//log* based on counting calls to an oracle
Algorithms whose computations involve making physical measurements can be modelled by Turing machines with oracles that are physical systems and oracle queries that obtain data from observation and measurement. The computational power of many of these physical oracles has been established using non-uniform complexity classes; in particular, for large classes of deterministic physical oracles, with fixed error margins constraining the exchange of data between algorithm and oracle, the computational power has been shown to be the non-uniform class BPP//log⋆ . In this paper, we consider non-deterministic oracles that can be modelled by random walks on the line. We show how to classify computations within BPP//log⋆ by making an infinite non-collapsing hierarchy between BPP//log⋆ and BPP . The hierarchy rests on the theorem that the number of calls to the physical oracle correlates with the size of the responses to queries.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Naive Fracterm Calculus
An outline is provided of a new perspective on elementary arithmetic, based on addition, multiplication, subtraction and division, which is informal and unique and may be considered naive when contrasted with a plurality of algebraic and logical, axiomatic formalisations of elementary arithmetic
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