From: Pavitra (celestialcognition@gmail.com)
Date: Mon Oct 12 2009 - 23:18:50 MDT
John K Clark wrote:
> On Mon, 12 Oct 2009 "Bradley Thomas" <brad36@gmail.com>said:
>
>> Isn't any finite algorithm bound to return to the same state eventually?
>
> No. The algorithm that produces the digits of Pi is finite but it will
> never return to its original state.
>
> John K Clark
Oh, interesting. This points out an implicit assumption I was making,
possibly incorrectly, about the meaning of "finite algorithm". I was
imagining an algorithm running on a finite state machine whose size was
fixed in advanced. You seem to be imagining a Turing-like machine with
an indefinitely long tape that is finite at any given instant, but that
grows as needed by the algorithm.
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