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alpsmac's definitions

prime

In traditional mathematics, an integer divisible only by 1 and itself.

Known to drive mathematicians mad searching for the next largest one - computers all over the world are continually searching. At the time of writing, the largest prime found was 12978189 digits in length.
1 is prime.
3 is prime.
7 is prime.

A joke in mathematical circles about the properties of induction goes something like:

Base case: 1 is prime
K+1 case: 3 is prime

Therefore all odd numbers are prime. QED

The joke being, of course - that due to faulty logic in the proof, the conclusion is that all odd numbers are prime - a clear fallacy (example: 21... 7*3=21 so 21 is NOT prime).
by ALPSMAC March 2, 2010
mugGet the primemug.

set

The mathematical set is traditionally known as a collection of objects. It is one of the most general and useful structures in mathematics.
Z = the set of integer numbers... {...-1, 0, 1...}
R = the set of real numbers (all non-complex numbers)

Let Q be the set of people who understand this definition and let S be the set of people who care about this definition:

Q intersect S is simply Q.
by alpsmac February 23, 2010
mugGet the setmug.

computable

The property of a problem being solved by means of a Turing machine.

In other words, can we write a program to solve the problem? If so, then the problem is computable.
The sorting problem is computable. I can sort lists of things based on a common comparator.

The halting problem is not computable.
by alpsmac February 23, 2010
mugGet the computablemug.

smalltalk

One of the most beautiful OO languages ever created. Runs in an image in a virtual machine and so, in some sense, has been running since its inception in the late 70s/early 80s.

Hands-down the most expressive OO language in existence - average internal method size as of 2007: 6.5-ish lines.
Best IDE: Cincom Smalltalk

Transcript show: 'Hello, world!'.
by ALPSMAC March 2, 2010
mugGet the smalltalkmug.

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