Re: Halting Problem: What Constitutes Pathological Input

On 05/05/2025 21:10, olcott wrote:
<snip>

That question is in many textbooks yet is still
wrong because functions computed by models of
computation such as Turing Machines or RASP machines
are only allowed to use actual inputs as their basis.

Allowed by whom?
There's no law to stop people writing a TM and passing it any damn input they please; "only allowed" is a nonsense.

When everyone here insists is that we simply ignore
the above fundamental rule of how functions must be
computed they are necessarily incorrect.

So by 'incorrect' you mean 'undecidable'. 'Incorrect' is the wrong word, of course.
You miss the whole point of Turing's proof, which is to show that some questions simply do not lend themselves to being answered by computers. You call such questions 'incorrect'. Everybody else (except for Mr Flibble) follows Turing's lead and call them 'undecidable'. What word you use doesn't matter all that much if you don't need to discuss such questions with others, but the concept is very real and very clear. Quite why you rail against it is beyond me.
<snip>
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Richard Heathfield
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