Purchase Solution

Theory of computation

Not what you're looking for?

Ask Custom Question

Summarize the significance of the halting problem in the field of theoretical computer science.

Purchase this Solution
Solution Summary

The expert summarizes the significance of the halting problem in the field of theoretical computer science.

Solution Preview

Summarize the significance of the halting problem in the field of theoretical computer science.
Summary :-
In theory of computation, the halting problem is considered to be a decision problem, in which it is analyzed that whether a turing machine computation will ever terminate, when a set of finite input is provided. So, it basically helps in determining the program's lifecycle with the help of some description about the program and a set of finite input.
The inability to decide whether a problem (halting problem) will ever halt or not is a very old research result in the field Theory of Computation. But still it considered that on a finite state computer systems it is possible to determine the state of a problem. Therefore, if any undecidability proof given for the problem must be applicable for systems other than finite state machines.

The basic problem that needed to be evaluated is, whether a particular problem will eventually stop or not, here the concern is not that how long the program will execute in terms of time and not even concerned about the storage space that program occupies, but the concentration is to find and realize whether the given program will finally halt with a ...

Purchase this Solution
Free BrainMass Quizzes
C++ Operators

This quiz tests a student's knowledge about C++ operators.

Basic Computer Terms

We use many basic terms like bit, pixel in our usual conversations about computers. Are we aware of what these mean? This little quiz is an attempt towards discovering that.

Basic Networking Questions

This quiz consists of some basic networking questions.

Inserting and deleting in a linked list

This quiz tests your understanding of how to insert and delete elements in a linked list. Understanding of the use of linked lists, and the related performance aspects, is an important fundamental skill of computer science data structures.

Javscript Basics

Quiz on basics of javascript programming language.

View More Free Quizzes
Related BrainMass Solutions

  • Theory of Computation

    66277 Theory of Computation Problems Let x be an element of Σ+ be a word. Show that for all such x, the language L=x* is regular.

  • 2DIM-DFA is undecidable

    The full definition of 2DIM-DFA can be found in Sipser's "Introduction to the Theory of Computation" (5.17) I show a reduction to the decidability of a problem which is known to be undecidable and hence prove the undecidability of the original language

  • Theory of Computation

    The theory of computation is applied. An deterministic finite state for automata that recognize these three languages is determined.

  • Calculating cost of equity using capital asset pricing model

    Please double check your initial computation of risk premium. Risk free rate is not 1%, but 0.10%. Computation for eBay's Cost of Equity using CAPM Beta = 0.88 (Yahoo!

  • Expectations theory of the term structure

    If the expectations theory of the term structure is correct, showing the computation what is the 1-year interest rate expected during Year 3?

  • Computation of net income, responsibility accounting

    185477 Computation of net income, responsibility accounting, inclusion of fixed costs 1. One Very Short Paragraph of discussion needed: Computation of Net Income What useful information do we derive from the computation of Net Income?

  • RSA signature

    Create a digital signature for the message m = 161, where the hashing function is the identity function and the computation at the signer's side is performed by the Chinese Remainder Theory.

  • Groups and Subgroups

    163981 Group Theory, Computing number of odd order subgroups Question: Let G be a group of order 2k , that contains a cyclic subgroup of order k, where k is odd. Determine a formula to compute the number of subgroups of G that are of odd order.

  • Project Completion with Economic Value Added (EVA)

    Kindly provide the same to enable computation of the same. The solution shows step-by-step computation of project completion status, variances and other parameters as per the theory of Economic Value Added (EVA) in operations management.

View More Related Solutions