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Groups > comp.lang.python > #66252
| From | Rotwang <sg552@hotmail.co.uk> |
|---|---|
| Newsgroups | comp.lang.python |
| Subject | Re: Working with the set of real numbers |
| Date | 2014-02-13 21:29 +0000 |
| Organization | A noiseless patient Spider |
| Message-ID | <ldjdg5$n9e$1@dont-email.me> (permalink) |
| References | (13 earlier) <85ioskbtfm.fsf@benfinney.id.au> <CAPTjJmqKE5aTQemze8-X7bj9=mKe+BoNiEkvNteHnZB9Tt8+Rw@mail.gmail.com> <85eh38bq5z.fsf@benfinney.id.au> <mailman.6840.1392295705.18130.python-list@python.org> <871tz7864a.fsf@elektro.pacujo.net> |
What's this? A discussion about angels dancing on a the head of a pin?
Great, I'm in.
On 13/02/2014 14:00, Marko Rauhamaa wrote:
> Oscar Benjamin <oscar.j.benjamin@gmail.com>:
>
>> This isn't even a question of resource constraints: a digital computer
>> with infinite memory and computing power would still be limited to
>> working with countable sets, and the real numbers are just not
>> countable. The fundamentally discrete nature of digital computers
>> prevents them from being able to truly handle real numbers and real
>> computation.
>
> Well, if your idealized, infinite, digital computer had ℵ₁ bytes of RAM
> and ran at ℵ₁ hertz and Python supported transfinite iteration, you
> could easily do reals:
>
> def real_sqrt(y):
> for x in continuum(0, max(1, y)):
> # Note: x is not traversed in the < order but some other
> # well-ordering, which has been proved to exist.
> if x * x == y:
> return x
> assert False
>
> The function could well return in finite time with a precise result for
> any given nonnegative real argument.
Minor point: ℵ₁ does not mean the cardinality c of the continuum, it
means the smallest cardinal larger than ℵ₀. It has been proved that the
question of whether ℵ₁ == c is independent of ZFC, so it is in a sense
unanswerable.
More importantly, though, such a computer could not complete the above
iteration in finite time unless time itself is not real-valued. That's
because if k is an uncountable ordinal then there is no strictly
order-preserving function from k to the unit interval [0, 1]. For
suppose otherwise, and let f be such a function. Let S denote the set of
successor ordinals in k, and let L denote the set of limit ordinals in
k. Then lambda x: x + 1 is an injective function from L (or L with a
single point removed if k is the successor of a limit ordinal) to S, so
that S is at least as large as L and since k == S | L it follows that S
is uncountable.
For each x + 1 in S, let g(x + 1) = f(x + 1) - f(x) > 0. Let F be any
finite subset of S and let y = max(F). It is clear that f(y) >= sum(g(x)
for x in F). Since also f(y) <= 1, we have sum(g(x) for x in F) if <= 1
for all finite F. In particular, for any integer n > 0, the set S_n = {x
for x in S if g(x) > 1/n} has len(S_n) < n. But then S is the union of
the countable collection {S_n for n in N} of finite sets, so is
countable; a contradiction.
On 13/02/2014 19:47, Marko Rauhamaa wrote:
> My assumption was you could execute ℵ₁ statements per second. That
> doesn't guarantee a finite finish time but would make it possible. That
> is because
>
> ℵ₁ * ℵ₁ = ℵ₁ = ℵ₁ * 1
I don't think that's enough - assuming the operations of your processor
during a second can be indexed by some ordinal k with len(k) == c, if
each of the c operations per iteration must be complete before the next
step of the for loop is complete then you need an injective function
from c * c to k that preserves the lexicographic ordering. I don't know
whether such a function exists for arbitrary such k, but k can be chosen
in advance so that it does.
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Finding size of Variable Ayushi Dalmia <ayushidalmia2604@gmail.com> - 2014-02-04 03:28 -0800
Re: Finding size of Variable Peter Otten <__peter__@web.de> - 2014-02-04 12:40 +0100
Re: Finding size of Variable Ayushi Dalmia <ayushidalmia2604@gmail.com> - 2014-02-04 04:43 -0800
Re: Finding size of Variable Asaf Las <roegltd@gmail.com> - 2014-02-04 04:53 -0800
Re: Finding size of Variable Ayushi Dalmia <ayushidalmia2604@gmail.com> - 2014-02-04 05:18 -0800
Re: Finding size of Variable Dave Angel <davea@davea.name> - 2014-02-04 08:09 -0500
Re: Finding size of Variable Ayushi Dalmia <ayushidalmia2604@gmail.com> - 2014-02-04 05:19 -0800
Re: Finding size of Variable Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com> - 2014-02-04 09:06 -0500
Re: Finding size of Variable Ayushi Dalmia <ayushidalmia2604@gmail.com> - 2014-02-04 21:00 -0800
Re:Finding size of Variable Dave Angel <davea@davea.name> - 2014-02-04 14:21 -0500
Re: Finding size of Variable Ayushi Dalmia <ayushidalmia2604@gmail.com> - 2014-02-04 21:15 -0800
Re: Finding size of Variable Peter Otten <__peter__@web.de> - 2014-02-05 09:27 +0100
Re: Finding size of Variable Tim Golden <mail@timgolden.me.uk> - 2014-02-04 19:28 +0000
Re: Finding size of Variable Tim Chase <python.list@tim.thechases.com> - 2014-02-04 13:29 -0600
Re: Finding size of Variable Ayushi Dalmia <ayushidalmia2604@gmail.com> - 2014-02-04 21:35 -0800
Re: Finding size of Variable Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2014-02-04 21:45 -0800
Re: Finding size of Variable Ayushi Dalmia <ayushidalmia2604@gmail.com> - 2014-02-04 22:00 -0800
Re: Finding size of Variable Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2014-02-05 11:00 +0000
Re: Finding size of Variable Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-02-05 22:44 +1100
Re: Finding size of Variable wxjmfauth@gmail.com - 2014-02-06 02:15 -0800
Re: Finding size of Variable Ned Batchelder <ned@nedbatchelder.com> - 2014-02-06 06:10 -0500
Re: Finding size of Variable wxjmfauth@gmail.com - 2014-02-06 05:51 -0800
Re: Finding size of Variable wxjmfauth@gmail.com - 2014-02-06 06:15 -0800
Re: Finding size of Variable Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2014-02-08 02:48 +0000
Re: Finding size of Variable Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us> - 2014-02-07 19:02 -0800
Re: Finding size of Variable Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2014-02-08 13:17 +0000
Re: Finding size of Variable David Hutto <dwightdhutto@gmail.com> - 2014-02-08 17:45 -0500
Re: Finding size of Variable Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2014-02-08 17:25 -0800
Re: Finding size of Variable David Hutto <dwightdhutto@gmail.com> - 2014-02-08 21:56 -0500
Re: Finding size of Variable Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-02-09 13:59 +1100
Re: Finding size of Variable David Hutto <dwightdhutto@gmail.com> - 2014-02-08 22:07 -0500
Re: Finding size of Variable Ned Batchelder <ned@nedbatchelder.com> - 2014-02-08 22:09 -0500
Re: Finding size of Variable David Hutto <dwightdhutto@gmail.com> - 2014-02-08 22:09 -0500
Re: Finding size of Variable Ned Batchelder <ned@nedbatchelder.com> - 2014-02-08 22:16 -0500
Re: Finding size of Variable Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2014-02-08 19:30 -0800
Re: Finding size of Variable wxjmfauth@gmail.com - 2014-02-10 06:07 -0800
Re: Finding size of Variable Asaf Las <roegltd@gmail.com> - 2014-02-10 06:25 -0800
Re: Finding size of Variable Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2014-02-10 14:39 +0000
Re: Finding size of Variable Tim Chase <python.list@tim.thechases.com> - 2014-02-10 08:43 -0600
Re: Finding size of Variable wxjmfauth@gmail.com - 2014-02-11 10:53 -0800
Re: Finding size of Variable Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2014-02-11 19:04 +0000
Re: Finding size of Variable wxjmfauth@gmail.com - 2014-02-11 23:49 -0800
Re: Finding size of Variable Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-02-12 19:06 +1100
Re: Finding size of Variable Jussi Piitulainen <jpiitula@ling.helsinki.fi> - 2014-02-12 10:57 +0200
Re: Finding size of Variable Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-02-12 20:24 +1100
Re: Finding size of Variable Jussi Piitulainen <jpiitula@ling.helsinki.fi> - 2014-02-12 11:35 +0200
Working with the set of real numbers (was: Finding size of Variable) Ben Finney <ben+python@benfinney.id.au> - 2014-02-12 19:17 +1100
Re: Working with the set of real numbers (was: Finding size of Variable) wxjmfauth@gmail.com - 2014-02-12 00:35 -0800
Re: Working with the set of real numbers (was: Finding size of Variable) wxjmfauth@gmail.com - 2014-02-12 00:46 -0800
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Ben Finney <ben+python@benfinney.id.au> - 2014-02-12 19:52 +1100
Re: Working with the set of real numbers (was: Finding size of Variable) Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2014-02-12 15:24 +0000
Re: Working with the set of real numbers (was: Finding size of Variable) "Gisle Vanem" <gvanem@yahoo.no> - 2014-02-12 17:23 +0100
Re: Working with the set of real numbers (was: Finding size of Variable) Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-02-12 19:47 +1100
Re: Working with the set of real numbers (was: Finding size of Variable) Jussi Piitulainen <jpiitula@ling.helsinki.fi> - 2014-02-12 11:23 +0200
Re: Working with the set of real numbers (was: Finding size of Variable) albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl (Albert van der Horst) - 2014-03-04 02:45 +0000
Re: Working with the set of real numbers (was: Finding size of Variable) Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-03-04 14:02 +1100
Re: Working with the set of real numbers (was: Finding size of Variable) Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2014-03-03 19:13 -0800
Re: Working with the set of real numbers (was: Finding size of Variable) Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-03-04 14:46 +1100
Re: Working with the set of real numbers (was: Finding size of Variable) Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2014-03-03 21:19 -0800
Re: Working with the set of real numbers (was: Finding size of Variable) Steven D'Aprano <steve@pearwood.info> - 2014-03-04 05:53 +0000
Re: Working with the set of real numbers (was: Finding size of Variable) Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-03-04 17:35 +1100
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2014-03-05 00:05 +1300
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-03-04 23:43 +1100
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2014-03-04 21:49 +0200
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-03-05 06:58 +1100
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Oscar Benjamin <oscar.j.benjamin@gmail.com> - 2014-03-04 20:55 +0000
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2014-03-04 23:05 +0200
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Oscar Benjamin <oscar.j.benjamin@gmail.com> - 2014-03-04 22:08 +0000
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-03-05 08:18 +1100
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Oscar Benjamin <oscar.j.benjamin@gmail.com> - 2014-03-04 22:02 +0000
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-03-05 09:18 +1100
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Oscar Benjamin <oscar.j.benjamin@gmail.com> - 2014-03-04 22:54 +0000
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-03-05 10:01 +1100
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Dave Angel <davea@davea.name> - 2014-03-04 18:20 -0500
Re: Working with the set of real numbers (was: Finding size of Variable) Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2014-03-04 04:19 -0700
Re: Working with the set of real numbers (was: Finding size of Variable) albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl (Albert van der Horst) - 2014-03-05 02:27 +0000
Re: Working with the set of real numbers (was: Finding size of Variable) Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2014-03-04 04:23 -0700
Re: Working with the set of real numbers (was: Finding size of Variable) albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl (Albert van der Horst) - 2014-03-05 02:15 +0000
Re: Working with the set of real numbers (was: Finding size of Variable) Steven D'Aprano <steve@pearwood.info> - 2014-03-05 03:41 +0000
Re: Working with the set of real numbers (was: Finding size of Variable) Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2014-03-04 20:15 -0800
Re: Working with the set of real numbers (was: Finding size of Variable) Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2014-03-04 23:25 -0500
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Ben Finney <ben+python@benfinney.id.au> - 2014-03-05 15:37 +1100
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2014-03-04 20:57 -0800
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2014-03-05 00:29 -0500
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Ben Finney <ben+python@benfinney.id.au> - 2014-02-12 19:56 +1100
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-02-12 20:16 +1100
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Ben Finney <ben+python@benfinney.id.au> - 2014-02-12 21:07 +1100
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2014-02-12 06:11 -0800
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2014-02-12 13:45 -0700
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2014-02-12 17:47 -0800
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2014-02-13 11:09 +1300
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Steven D'Aprano <steve@pearwood.info> - 2014-02-13 03:31 +0000
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Ben Finney <ben+python@benfinney.id.au> - 2014-02-13 14:45 +1100
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-02-13 15:17 +1100
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-02-12 21:20 +1100
Re: Working with the set of real numbers wxjmfauth@gmail.com - 2014-02-12 02:55 -0800
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Ned Batchelder <ned@nedbatchelder.com> - 2014-02-12 06:55 -0500
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2014-02-12 14:48 +0200
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-02-13 00:20 +1100
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2014-02-12 16:13 +0200
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-02-13 04:52 +1100
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2014-02-13 11:24 +1300
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Dave Angel <davea@davea.name> - 2014-02-12 17:56 -0500
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2014-02-14 18:26 +1300
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Ben Finney <ben+python@benfinney.id.au> - 2014-02-12 22:44 +1100
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-02-12 22:58 +1100
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2014-02-13 11:32 +1300
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2014-02-12 23:23 +0000
Re: Finding size of Variable Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2014-02-12 14:04 +0000
Re: Finding size of Variable Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2014-02-12 06:14 -0800
Re: Finding size of Variable Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2014-02-12 14:25 +0000
Re: Finding size of Variable Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2014-02-12 06:32 -0800
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Oscar Benjamin <oscar.j.benjamin@gmail.com> - 2014-02-13 12:48 +0000
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2014-02-13 16:00 +0200
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-02-14 06:25 +1100
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2014-02-13 21:47 +0200
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-02-14 07:08 +1100
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Devin Jeanpierre <jeanpierreda@gmail.com> - 2014-02-13 22:05 -0800
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2014-02-15 00:30 +1300
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Devin Jeanpierre <jeanpierreda@gmail.com> - 2014-02-14 16:26 -0800
Re: Working with the set of real numbers albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl (Albert van der Horst) - 2014-03-05 02:38 +0000
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2014-02-14 19:37 +1300
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-02-14 17:44 +1100
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2014-02-14 07:13 -0800
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Dave Angel <davea@davea.name> - 2014-02-14 07:30 -0500
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2014-02-14 15:09 +0000
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Rotwang <sg552@hotmail.co.uk> - 2014-02-13 21:29 +0000
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2014-02-14 00:00 +0200
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Rotwang <sg552@hotmail.co.uk> - 2014-02-13 22:21 +0000
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2014-02-14 01:16 +0200
Re: Working with the set of real numbers Ben Finney <ben+python@benfinney.id.au> - 2014-02-14 03:57 +1100
Re: Finding size of Variable Ned Batchelder <ned@nedbatchelder.com> - 2014-02-10 10:02 -0500
Re: Finding size of Variable Neil Cerutti <neilc@norwich.edu> - 2014-02-11 14:29 +0000
Re: Finding size of Variable Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com> - 2014-02-05 22:14 -0500
Re: Finding size of Variable Dave Angel <davea@davea.name> - 2014-02-05 08:43 -0500
Re: Finding size of Variable Ayushi Dalmia <ayushidalmia2604@gmail.com> - 2014-02-05 06:33 -0800
Re: Finding size of Variable Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2014-02-05 15:22 +0000
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