Scott David Daniels wrote: >Well, in fact both meanings of "fixed point" are used, seldom by the >same person. I expect Knuth is in that small group that uses both >meanings regularly (since his basic training was all mathematics). >Look to the "functional programming" people for examination of the >whole idea of fixed points of functions (Bird & Wadler is a standard >F.P. text). > > thanks for the clarification as to terminology.
re: "The study of fixed points has been at the foundation of algorithms" I guess what I am asking further is whether the statement is simply referencing the development of algorithms for solving the mathematical question of the fixed points of a function, in the context of mathematical programming where that particular mathematical problem might happen to present itself- or is there some implication that the problem of f(x) = x is one that has more general implications in algorithmics as a distinct area of study. .. or am I asking a question that is itself too round-about to have an answer of the kind of am looking for? ;) Art _______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing list [email protected] http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
