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Encyclopedia > Computation
Look up computation in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Computation is a general term for any type of information processing that can be represented mathematically. This includes phenomena ranging from human thinking to calculations with a more narrow meaning, computation is a process following a well defined model that is understood and can be expressed in an algorithm, protocol, network topology, etc. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wiktionary (a portmanteau of wiki and dictionary) is a multilingual, Web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in over 150 languages. ... In general, information processing is the changing (processing) of information in any manner detectable by an observer. ... An abstract model (or conceptual model) is a theoretical construct that represents something, with a set of variables and a set of logical and quantitative relationships between them. ... In mathematics, computing, linguistics, and related disciplines, an algorithm is a finite list of well-defined instructions for accomplishing some task that, given an initial state, will terminate in a defined end-state. ... For other senses of this word, see protocol. ... For other uses of topology, see topology (disambiguation). ...

Contents

Classes of computation

Computation can be classified by at least three orthogonal criteria: digital vs analog, sequential vs parallel, batch vs interactive. For other uses, see Digital (disambiguation). ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Exit numbers on Interstate 4 in Volusia County, Florida. ... Parallel computing is the simultaneous execution of the same task (split up and specially adapted) on multiple processors in order to obtain faster results. ... Insert non-formatted text hereBatch processing is the execution of a series of programs (jobs) on a computer without human interaction, when possible. ... Interactive computation involves communication with the external world during the computation. ...


In practice, digital computation is often used to simulate natural processes (for example, Evolutionary computation), including those that are more naturally described by analog models of computation (for example, Artificial neural network). In this situation, it is important to distinguish between the mechanism of computation and the simulated model. In computer science evolutionary computation is a subfield of artificial intelligence (more particularly computational intelligence) involving combinatorial optimization problems. ... An artificial neural network (ANN), often just called a neural network (NN), is a mathematical model or computational model based on biological neural networks. ...


Computations as a physical phenomenon

A computation can be seen as a purely physical phenomenon occurring inside a closed physical system called a computer. Examples of such physical systems include digital computers, quantum computers, DNA computers, molecular computers, analog computers or wetware computers. This point of view is the one adopted by the branch of theoretical physics called the physics of computation. A physical system is a system that is comprised of matter and energy. ... This article is about the machine. ... ... The Bloch sphere is a representation of a qubit, the fundamental building block of quantum computers. ... DNA computing is a form of computing which uses DNA and molecular biology, instead of the traditional silicon-based computer technologies. ... Molecular computers are massively parallel computers taking advantage of the compuational power of molecules. ... A page from the Bombardiers Information File (BIF) that describes the components and controls of the Norden bombsight. ... An organic computer based on living neurons and ganglions. ... The study of the physics of computation relates to understanding the fundamental physical limits of computers. ...


An even more drastic point of view is the postulate of digital physics that the evolution of the universe itself is a computation. Digital physics holds the basic premise that the entire history of our universe is computable, that is, the output of a (presumably short) computer program. ...


Computation is a form of calculation, the procedure of calcultaing; determining something by mathematical or logical methods or problem solving that involves numbers or quantities.


Mathematical models of computation

In the theory of computation, mathematical models of computers are defined. A computation is the evolution over discrete time epochs of this model. Typical mathematical models of computers are the following: The theory of computation is the branch of computer science that deals with whether and how efficiently problems can be solved on a computer. ...

Different mathematical models of computers can be classified according to their expressive power, see the Chomsky hierarchy. An artistic representation of a Turing Machine . ... In computer science, in particular automata theory, pushdown automata (PDA) are abstract devices that recognize context-free languages. ... In the theory of computation, a finite state machine (FSM) or finite state automaton (FSA) is an abstract machine that has only a finite, constant amount of memory. ... The Chomsky hierarchy is a containment hierarchy of classes of formal grammars that generate formal languages. ...


History

The word computation has an archaic meaning (from its Latin etymological roots), but the word has come back in use with the arising of a new scientific discipline: computer science. Latin was the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... Computer science, or computing science, is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their implementation and application in computer systems. ...


See also

Computer Science Portal

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