11/3/2019 Computation - Wikipedia

Computation
Computation is any type of calculation[1][2] that includes both arithmetical and non-arithmetical steps and follows a
well-defined model, for example an algorithm.

The study of computation is paramount (hypernymous) to the discipline of computer science.

Contents
Physical phenomenon
The mapping account
The semantic account
The mechanistic account
Mathematical models
See also
References

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, mechanical computers, quantum computers, DNA
computers, molecular computers, microfluidics-based computers, analog computers, or wetware computers. This point of
view has been adopted by the physics of computation, a branch of theoretical physics, as well as the field of natural
computing.

An even more radical point of view, pancomputationalism, is the postulate of digital physics that argues that the evolution
of the universe is itself a computation.

The mapping account

The classic account of computation is found throughout the works of Hilary Putnam and others. Peter Godfrey-Smith has
dubbed this the "simple mapping account."[3] Gualtiero Piccinini's summary of this account states that a physical system
can be said to perform a specific computation when there is a mapping between the state of that system to the
computation such that the “microphysical states [of the system] mirror the state transitions between the computational
states.”[4]

The semantic account

Philosophers such as Jerry Fodor[5] have suggested various accounts of computation with the restriction that semantic
content be a necessary condition for computation (that is, what differentiates an arbitrary physical system from a
computing system is that the operands of the computation represent something). This notion attempts to prevent the
logical abstraction of the mapping account of pancomputationalism, the idea that everything can be said to be computing
everything.

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The mechanistic account

Gualtiero Piccinini proposes an account of computation based in mechanical philosophy. It states that physical computing
systems are types of mechanisms that, by design, perform physical computation, or “the manipulation (by a functional
mechanism) of a medium-independent vehicle according to a rule.” Medium-independence requires that the property is
able to be instantiated by multiple realizers and multiple mechanisms and that the inputs and outputs of the mechanism
also be multiply realizable. In short, medium-independence allows for the use of physical variables with traits other than
voltage (as in typical digital computers); this is imperative in considering other types of computation, such as that occurs
in the brain or in a quantum computer. A rule, in this sense, provides a mapping among inputs, outputs, and internal
states of the physical computing system. [6]

Mathematical models
In the theory of computation, a diversity of mathematical models of computers has been developed. Typical mathematical
models of computers are the following:

State models including Turing machine, pushdown automaton, finite state automaton, and PRAM
Functional models including lambda calculus
Logical models including logic programming
Concurrent models including actor model and process calculi
Giunti calls the models studied by computation theory computational systems, and he argues that all of them are
mathematical dynamical systems with discrete time and discrete state space.[7]:ch.1 He maintains that a computational
system is a complex object which consists of three parts. First, a mathematical dynamical system with discrete time
and discrete state space; second, a computational setup , which is made up of a theoretical part , and a real
part ; third, an interpretation , which links the dynamical system with the setup .[8]:pp.179–80

See also
Computationalism
Physical information
Real computation
Reversible computation
Hypercomputation
Lateral computing
Computational problem
Multiple realizability

References
1. Computation (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/computation) from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary
2. "Computation: Definition and Synonyms from Answers.com" (https://web.archive.org/web/20090222005439/http://ww
w.answers.com/topic/computation). Answers.com. Archived from the original (http://www.answers.com:80/topic/comp
utation) on 22 February 2009. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
3. Godfrey-Smith, P. (2009), "Triviality Arguments against Functionalism", Philosophical Studies, 145 (2): 273–95,
doi:10.1007/s11098-008-9231-3 (https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs11098-008-9231-3)
4. Piccinini, Gualtiero (2015). Physical Computation: A Mechanistic Account. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 17.
ISBN 9780199658855.
5. Fodor, J. A. (1981), "The Mind-Body Problem", Scientific American, 244 (January 1981)

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6. Piccinini, Gualtiero (2015). Physical Computation: A Mechanistic Account. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 10.
ISBN 9780199658855.
7. Giunti, Marco (1997). Computation, Dynamics, and Cognition. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-
509009-3.
8. Giunti, Marco (2017), "What is a Physical Realization of a Computational System?" (https://www.researchgate.net/pub
lication/319631506_What_is_a_Physical_Realization_of_a_Computational_System), Isonomia -- Epistemologica, 9:
177–92, ISSN 2037-4348 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/2037-4348)

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