scienceblogs.com — Non-computable: no program can compute ?. ? isn't really a specific number, but rather a family of related numbers with bizzare properties. It's the one real transcendental number that I know of that comes from the theory of computation, that is important, and that expresses meaningful fundamental mathematical properties.
Aug 7, 2006 View in Crawl 4
semiringAug 7, 2006
"A number can be rational, irrational, or imaginary"As a mathematician, you know enough to be more careful that that with definitions. This definition of 'number' that you have given is sufficient, but not necessary. One suspects that Hamilton would be shocked to hear that the quaternions are not numbers. And Conway to hear of the same fate for the surreal numbers....
danakinAug 8, 2006
Aleph-1, my favorite strange number.
muzikmafiaAug 8, 2006
I wonder how many times Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V were used to make these comments
redneckbluesAug 8, 2006
Chuck Norris can count to ?.
flareAug 8, 2006
Here is a good example of why the Digg front page is exclusive to the top posters.See, this is a story that, if any other regular member would have submitted it, no way it would've reached the front page.It's boring, not related to any recent happenings, but hey! It's my friend who is posting this, so I better digg it if I want him to digg mine! Right?And this is the same deal with 90% of stories submitted.Lately, I've been looking for some legitimate stories to digg... I tell you, it's becoming harder and harder every day :(Too bad.
maninthecoldAug 8, 2006
having a fascination with numbers like this is not a good thing, it can only drive you crazy and it won't unravel the stock market or get you laid, Godel understood this subject better than anyone else and he died of starvation because he was so paranoid he thought all his food was being poisoned.
kickarseAug 8, 2006
Jesus didn't say he was the alpha and the omega. God said he himself was. Jesus and God are two separate entities. Get your facts straight bubba....
fr34k5h0wAug 8, 2006
Ehm, not to be the overly analytical tight ass, but I believe the Bible treats God the father, son, and Holy spirit as three in one, like God has multiple personalities, not three separate entities.
macewanAug 8, 2006
Ω reminds me of the crazy ass teacher I have for probability class tonight.
thesizAug 15, 2006
This does remind me of my theory of computation class. Now that I look back at it, I'm glad I paid attention. This is an interesting read, and any person with a computer science background should understand this stuff. In other words, this stuff is probably too complicated if you do not have the proper background knowledge.