3 ms·
They're called "computers" for a reason.
by Ace17 11y ago
They're called "computers" for a reason.
- umanwizard 11y agoYeah, because they can do arithmetic really fast? I wouldn't consider adding 1 to a register here and there and taking some conditional branches "math". Modern math (usually) involves thinking about theorems very hard and then writing proofs for them.
- Ace17 11y agoAlgorithms have existed in the world of mathematics thousand years before computers were invented. From this point of view, computers are just a way to speed-up things. If the Euler algorithm was discovered today, should it be patentable? What about the FFT? Is there any substantial difference with any "modern" algorithm, like the DCT or arithmetic encoding?
- umanwizard 11y agoI already said algorithms can be plausibly called math. Lots of software, and software patents, have little to do with novel algorithms.