Talk:Nondeterministic algorithm: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 08:05, 31 May 2021

Revision as of 16:31, 31 May 2021

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==Misleading Article==

I think that this page is misleading. A nondeterministic algorithm makes a choice as part of its computation. Making a choice, to me, implies free will. Many seem to call any algorithm which produces a difficult-to-predict output a "nondeterministic algorithm". However, the real reason why the algorithm doesn't have the same predictable outcome is because the entire input state space was not taken into account. This includes what's exactly in all of your system memory, state of all CPU cores, temperature, environmental radiation, etc. Taking all of those things into account, I bet you that your "nondeterministic algorithm" is only a simulation of one. This is also touched upon by other commenters belowabove to some extent. [[User:02Tails|02Tails]] ([[User talk:02Tails|talk]]) 00:37, 31 May 2021 (UTC)

:It is a fact that different people use "nondeterministic" with different meanings. Wikipedia cannot do anything against that. What Wikipedia can do is to make clear the difference between different meanings. The hatnote at the top of the article is there for this reason. It would probably better to expand it into a detailed explanation in the article.

:This being said the article is effectively confusing in its present state. It suffices to read this talk page, and specially the discussion on the requested move to see that there is a consensus about that. The problem is that there is no consensus about the way of solving the problem. Can you propose something? [[User:D.Lazard|D.Lazard]] ([[User talk:D.Lazard|talk]]) 08:04, 31 May 2021 (UTC)

::I appreciate the hatnote. It adds value in directing the reader to more formal documentation. What I'd like to see here is the summary paired down to the effect of "a nondeterministic algorithm is one that makes a choice". Then further down in the article, we can discuss what it means to make a choice i.e. spontaneous vs stochastic. I'm willing to concede that calling an algorithm "nondeterministic" in theoretical settings means something different from practical settings. That line needs to be drawn somewhere so the reader coming from either setting won't be confused. We can't define things absolutely here when there is a gray area to think about. [[User:02Tails|02Tails]] ([[User talk:02Tails|talk]]) 16:31, 31 May 2021 (UTC)