Stephen Wolfram

JUNE 28, 2023

Line, Surface and Contour Integration “Find the integral of the function ” is a typical core thing one wants to do in calculus. But particularly in applications of calculus, it’s common to want to ask slightly more elaborate questions, like “What’s the integral of over the region ?”, or “What’s the integral of along the line ?”

Computer 118

Computer Calculus Construction Mathematics 118

Stephen Wolfram

SEPTEMBER 9, 2021

Events are like functions, whose “arguments” are incoming tokens, and whose output is one or more outgoing tokens. And the same issue arose for Alonzo Church’s lambda calculus (introduced around 1930). The systems can be based on Boolean algebra, database updating or other kinds of ultimately computational rules.

Physics 65

Physics Science Sciences Mathematics 65

Stephen Wolfram

SEPTEMBER 9, 2021

Events are like functions, whose “arguments” are incoming tokens, and whose output is one or more outgoing tokens. And the same issue arose for Alonzo Church’s lambda calculus (introduced around 1930). The systems can be based on Boolean algebra, database updating or other kinds of ultimately computational rules.

Science 64

Science Sciences Physics Mathematics 64

Stephen Wolfram

AUGUST 22, 2023

It didn’t help that his knowledge of physics was at best spotty (and, for example, I don’t think he ever really learned calculus). Then McCarthy started to explain ways a computer could do algebra. It was all algebra. Richard Feynman and I would get into very fierce arguments. And he says “There’s a problem.

Computer 68

Computer Physics Science Sciences 68

Stephen Wolfram

NOVEMBER 10, 2021

For example, we know (as I discovered in 2000) that (( b · c ) · a ) · ( b · (( b · a ) · b )) = a is the minimal axiom system for Boolean algebra , because FindEquationalProof finds a path that proves it. But what about other models of computation—like cellular automata or register machines or lambda calculus?

Physics 122

Physics Mathematics Computer Construction 122