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"One big reason that mathematics is much more like language than programming, is that doing mathematics involves resolving ambiguities. In programming you have
by jobu 12y ago
"One big reason that mathematics is much more like language than programming, is that doing mathematics involves resolving ambiguities. In programming you have a compiler/interpreter that just dictates how an ambiguity resolves. But in mathematics, as in real language, you have to resolve them yourself based on context."
Along this line, I recently noticed how similar legal contracts to programming. One partner contract I had to read over looked very much like a huge if/elseif statement, and the definitions section looked a lot like setting up variables.
After reading this article it seems the similarities between legaleze and math proofs are pretty strong as well. I wonder if anyone has ever tried to process legal documents or laws with mathematical formulas to try finding loopholes.
- avmich 12y agoLoopholes is when you find something unforeseen by the law. I vaguely remember the opposite problem - having different laws stating different things about the same situation. This might be a problem by laws. As for math, there is inconsistency robustness topic of research.
- jleader 12y agoI remember reading "The British Nationality Act as a logic program" (http://www.researchgate.net/publication/234805335_The_British_Nationality_Act_as_a_logic_program http://www.researchgate.net/publication/234805335_The_Britis...) in CACM a long time ago; the "cited in" list seems to be a good place to look for subsequent efforts.