Re:How to publish Git repos that cannot be republished to Gi...
by tsimionescu on Tuesday November 03, 2020 @02:48AM
(#24977385)
There are simple formulas for computing Pi. For example Pi can be computed to arbitrary precision as 4 * (1 - 1/3 + 1/5 - 1/7...).
Re:How to publish Git repos that cannot be republished to Gi...
by lopmotr on Tuesday November 03, 2020 @12:51AM
(#24976776)
An algorithm for computing pi would be a finite sequence of operations. Even if the operations include "do an infinite loop".
Re:How to publish Git repos that cannot be republished to Gi...
by eru on Tuesday November 03, 2020 @01:23AM
(#24976919)
Pedantically enough, by formal definitions algorithms have to finish. See eg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithm
In practice, speaking informally, people talk about programs that may run forever all the time.
People have developed lots of theory around those as well. Of specific interest here would be the class of programs that provably only runs for a finite time before it produces the next bit of output.
You need that latter class of programs to talk about producing digits of pi, or running the main loop of an OS.
See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_functional_programming
Re:How to publish Git repos that cannot be republished to Gi...
by mannykannot on Tuesday November 03, 2020 @08:05AM
(#24979246)
Then, I would say, you would be publishing a fact about pi, not pi itself. These facts do not yield pi in any finite time.
Hmm... are you saying that, for example, pi is the one-step sequence of operations of dividing a circle's circumference by its diameter? But first, you have to get both those values...