A Continuous Model of Computation

MAY 01, 1999

Physicists should consider an alternative to the Turing‐machine model of computation.

Joseph F. Traub

A central dogma of computer science is that the Turing‐machine model is the appropriate abstraction of a digital computer. Physicists who’ve thought about the matter also seem to favor the Turing‐machine model. For example, Roger Penrose devoted some 60 pages of a book to a description of this abstract model of computation and its implications. I argue here that physicists should consider the real‐number model of computation as more appropriate and useful for scientific computation.

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More about the authors

Joseph F. Traub, Columbia University, New York City.