Difficult Problems
There are a variety of kinds of problems that computers “cannot” perform
- Some problems could be solved in principle, but it would take so long and take so many resources that it is impractical … simulating the positions of the stars in the Milky Way galaxy over a million years
- Some problems cannot be solved because the inputs and process determining the outcome cannot be known … predicting today’s closing price for Amazon.Com
- Unsolvable problems cannot be computed … solving them is logically inconsistent … a philosophically interesting topic
The “halting problem” is a problem not solvable by computer: No program can tell if another program will halt eventually or loop forever