Quote: Babbage substituted unbounded time for unbounded space; allows a finite machine to make calculations of an unlimited extent

Quotation

It is impossible to construct machinery occupying unlimited space; but it is possible to construct finite machinery, and to use it through unlimited time. It is this substitution of the infinity of time for the infinity of space which I have made use of, to limit the size of the engine and yet to retain its unlimited power. ... [p. 63] Thus it appears that the whole of the conditions which enable a finite machine to make calculations of unlimited extent are fulfilled in the Analytical Engine.   Google-1   Google-2

Published before 1923

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