Differential Propositional Calculus • 32
•
https://inquiryintoinquiry.com/2023/12/26/differential-propositional-calcul…
Example 2. Drives and Their Vicissitudes —
❝I open my scuttle at night and see the far‑sprinkled systems,
And all I see, multiplied as high as I can cipher, edge but
the rim of the farther systems.❞
— Walt Whitman • Leaves of Grass
Before we leave the one‑feature case let's look at a more
substantial example, one which illustrates a general class
of curves through the extended feature spaces and provides
an opportunity to discuss important themes concerning their
structure and dynamics.
As before let †X† = {x₁} = {A}. The discussion to follow considers
a class of trajectories having the property that dⁱA = 0 for all i
greater than a fixed value n and indulges in the use of a picturesque
vocabulary to describe salient classes of those curves.
Given the above finite order condition, there is a highest order
non‑zero difference dⁿA exhibited at each point of any trajectory
one may consider. With respect to any point of the corresponding
curve let us call that highest order differential feature dⁿA the
“drive” at that point. Curves of constant drive dⁿA are then
referred to as “n‑th‑gear curves”.
Note. The fact that a difference calculus can be developed for
boolean functions is well known and was probably familiar to Boole,
who was an expert in difference equations before he turned to logic.
And of course there is the strange but true story of how the Turin
machines of the 1840s prefigured the Turing machines of the 1940s.
At the very outset of general purpose mechanized computing we find
the motive power driving the Analytical Engine of Babbage, the
kernel of an idea behind all of his wheels, was exactly his notion
that difference operations, suitably trained, can serve as universal
joints for any conceivable computation.
Resources —
Differential Logic and Dynamic Systems
•
https://oeis.org/wiki/Differential_Logic_and_Dynamic_Systems_%E2%80%A2_Part…
Differential Logic • Drives and Their Vicissitudes
•
https://oeis.org/wiki/Differential_Logic_and_Dynamic_Systems_%E2%80%A2_Part…
Regards,
Jon
cc:
https://www.academia.edu/community/lQYdql