On 10/14/2010 2:30 PM, Bill Andersen wrote:
> Please include me as a proud member on your list of ignorant asserters of the
>commonplace. (01)
I agree with Chris and Bill that the amount of confusion about
computational complexity, decidability, undecidability, etc., is
enormous (even among people who should know better). (02)
On 10/14/2010 2:36 PM, Michael Gruninger wrote:
> Since the set of prime numbers is recursively enumerable, there
> exists a polynomial function whose integer solutions are exactly
> the prime numbers. (03)
I agree. But I'm sure that somebody will misinterpret that statement
as implying that there exists some polynomial that can compute prime
numbers by an expression of the following form: (04)
Pr(n) = polynomial expression in terms of n. (05)
It's important to assert "commonplaces" such as "a polynomial
expression in n" is not the same as "an integer solution of
a polynomial equation". (06)
John (07)
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