Path: news.eternal-september.org!eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: dbush Newsgroups: comp.theory Subject: Re: Halting Problem: What Constitutes Pathological Input Date: Mon, 5 May 2025 23:44:41 -0400 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 80 Message-ID: References: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Injection-Date: Tue, 06 May 2025 05:44:40 +0200 (CEST) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="80f1b624b2b67f0b720d14d0d7fce339"; logging-data="2026680"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1/khAtRW1jTaQlWg+HDVzZL" User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird Cancel-Lock: sha1:I5YyiNkDN5YUE+EOqR1BhyIwUOU= Content-Language: en-US In-Reply-To: On 5/5/2025 11:38 PM, olcott wrote: > On 5/5/2025 10:16 PM, dbush wrote: >> On 5/5/2025 11:05 PM, olcott wrote: >>> On 5/5/2025 9:56 PM, dbush wrote: >>>> On 5/5/2025 10:51 PM, olcott wrote: >>>>> On 5/5/2025 9:27 PM, dbush wrote: >>>>>> On 5/5/2025 10:18 PM, olcott wrote: >>>>>>> On 5/5/2025 8:59 PM, dbush wrote: >>>>>>>> On 5/5/2025 8:57 PM, olcott wrote: >>>>>>>>> On 5/5/2025 7:49 PM, dbush wrote: >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> Which starts with the assumption that an algorithm exists that >>>>>>>>>> performs the following mapping: >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> Given any algorithm (i.e. a fixed immutable sequence of >>>>>>>>>> instructions) X described as with input Y: >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> A solution to the halting problem is an algorithm H that >>>>>>>>>> computes the following mapping: >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> (,Y) maps to 1 if and only if X(Y) halts when executed >>>>>>>>>> directly >>>>>>>>>> (,Y) maps to 0 if and only if X(Y) does not halt when >>>>>>>>>> executed directly >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> DO COMPUTE THAT THE INPUT IS NON-HALTING >>>>>>>>>>> IFF (if and only if) the mapping FROM INPUTS >>>>>>>>>>> IS COMPUTED. >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> i.e. it is found to map something other than the above >>>>>>>>>> function which is a contradiction. >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> The above function VIOLATES COMPUTER SCIENCE. >>>>>>>>> You make no attempt to show how my claim >>>>>>>>> THAT IT VIOLATES COMPUTER SCIENCE IS INCORRECT >>>>>>>>> you simply take that same quote from a computer >>>>>>>>> science textbook as the infallible word-of-God. >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> All you are doing is showing that you don't understand proof by >>>>>>>> contradiction, >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Not at all. >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> Yes. >>>>>> >>>>>> The mapping is well defined. >>>>> >>>>> You don't even know that "well defined" means >>>>> that all of the steps have been specified. >>>> >>>> A mapping doesn't *have* steps. It's simply an association between >>>> an input domain and an output domain. >>>> >>> >>> Computing the mapping does > have 100% totally specific steps >> >> >> So you're assuming an algorithm exists that can compute the below >> mapping. >> > > No the mapping below is stupidly wrong. Not at all. I want to know if any arbitrary algorithm X with input Y will halt when executed directly. It would be *very* useful to me if I had an algorithm H that could tell me that in *all* possible cases. If so, I could solve the Goldbach conjecture and make all truths knowable, among many other unsolved problems. No algorithm H that can do this, as Linz and others have proved and you have *explicitly* agreed is correct.