Interpreting Computing, Mathematics and Logic within the SP Framework

Journal of Universal Computer Science 5(11), 776-815, 1999 (from 2007-01-01, this journal will be an open-access journal and all papers, including this one, may be downloaded without any charge), PDF, uk.arxiv.org/abs/cs.AI/0307013.

A short version of this article was presented at the British Colloquium for Theoretical Computer Science (BCTCS15), Keele University, April 1999.

This paper argues that the operations of a "Universal Turing Machine" (UTM) and equivalent mechanisms such as the "Post Canonical System" (PCS) - which are widely accepted as definitions of the concept of 'computing' - may be interpreted as information compression by multiple alignment, unification and search (ICMAUS).

The motivation for this interpretation is that it suggests ways in which the UTM or PCS model may be augmented to create a proposed new computing system designed to exploit the ICMAUS principles as fully as possible. The provision of a relatively sophisticated search mechanism in the proposed 'SP' system appears to open the door to the integration and simplification of a range of functions including unsupervised inductive learning, best-match pattern recognition and information retrieval, probabilistic reasoning, planning and problem solving, and others. Detailed consideration of how the ICMAUS principles may be applied to these functions is outside the scope of this article but relevant sources are cited in the article.

School of Informatics Report, March, 2002. PDF, PDF.ZIP, PS, PS.ZIP. Archive: http://uk.arxiv.org/abs/cs.AI/0302015

This paper describes evidence in support of the conjecture that mathematics, logic and related disciplines such as theoretical linguistics and computer programming may be understood as information compression by multiple alignment, unification and search. The case is made both in terms of the static forms and structures of maths and logic etc and in terms of the dynamic processes of mathematical calculation and logical inference. This paper supersedes the two below.

SEECS Report CS-JGW-95-3, December 1995.  Postscript, Compressed Postscript.

Logic as information compression by multiple alignment, unification and search.

SEECS Report CS-JGW-95-4.1, October 1996. Postscript, Compressed Postscript.

These two papers (which are superseded by the one immediately above) focus on how 'logic' may be understood in terms of information compression by multiple alignment, unification and search. The first paper is an extended introduction to the second.

Last updated: 2006-09-12 (ISO 8601)