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Domain: metamath.org
Stories and comments across the archive that link to metamath.org.
Stories · 2
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34-byte Universal Machine
N. Megill writes: "Computer scientist and obfuscated code aficionado John Tromp has devised what may be the world's most compact Universal Machine (Postscript research paper) to date. Written in the 'S-K combinatory logic' language, which has only 2 commands (S and K), his UM can be encoded with only 272 bits (34 bytes), compared to 5495 bits for the Universal Turing Machine given in Roger Penrose's book The Emperor's New Mind ." -
Learn The Language Of Math
N. Megill writes "While mathematics is not "closed source" in the same way that some computer operating systems are, it can take years of hard work to acquire the background needed to understand advanced abstract mathematical proofs. This is because they are usually presented at a very high level that hides most of the detail, often making them beyond the grasp of a non-mathematician (even a very smart one such as a computer programmer). The Metamath project breaks down mathematical proofs into the finest possible level of detail and builds mathematics from the ground up. Like Linux From Scratch, it can appeal to those who like seeing things built up from first principles. Metamath does not claim to teach you mathematics, just as reading the kernel source code does not teach you how to use Linux, but there can be a certain satisfaction in just knowing it is there."