Computation Flashcards
What is the significance of numerals?
Early inventories would mark things with pictures like 🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽 🍓🍓🍓. Then someone figured out they could save space by writing something like 5🌽 3🍓. An incredibly powerful idea.
Numerals!
Where are when were abaci first known to be used?
Sumeria 2700–2300 BC
What could the Antikythera mechanism do?
Predict astronomical positions, and decide when the olympics should be.
What are some of the algorithms from the famous Babylonian tablets?
To calculate geometry
What were some of the accomplishments of Al-Khwārizmī?
He was a polymath, but very notably responsible for Al-Jabr (algebra).
What was Ada Lovelace’s published program in her famous Notes?
Calculating babylonian numbers
What was Lovelace most known for besides the first published program?
The Analytical engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent.
Was the analytical engine ever built?
No
Who was George Boole?
Developed boolean algebra
What was Hilbert’s Program?
A formulation of all mathematics; in other words all mathematical statements should be written in a precise formal language, and manipulated according to well defined rules.
How did Church formalize the notion of effective computability?
lambda calculus
How did Turing formalize the notion of effective computability?
Turing Machine and Church-Turing test
What was Gödel’s initial reaction to Church’s Lambda Calculus?
Skeptical and did not agree
When did Gödel finally accept the Lambda Calculus a model for effective computability?
Because of the Church-Turing test
Name five stunning achievements of Turing’s famous paper.
Turing Machine Concept, Universal Turing Machine, Halting problem, Church-Turing test, implications for math and logic
