Re: Energy content of a mathematical result.
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg48702] Re: Energy content of a mathematical result.
- From: John Doty <jpd at whispertel.LoseTheH.net>
- Date: Fri, 11 Jun 2004 03:52:25 -0400 (EDT)
- References: <ca3gnu$rri$1@smc.vnet.net>
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
It's essentially 100% hot air. In theory, the thermodynamic cost of computation is zero. Google for "reversible computation". There is a slight theoretical cost to communicate the result from the computer to you (since you are not a reversible system!), given by Shannon's Channel Capacity Theorem. In practice, of course, we don't use reversible computers (nor do we use reversible heat engines). -jpd Matthias.Bode at oppenheim.de wrote: > Dear Colleagues, > > is there a theory - or hypothesis - which share of the processors energy > consumption goes into the result when e. g. a system of equations is being > solved or a list is being subjected to Sort (by Mathematica)? - The > processors output cannot be just 100 per cent hot air. > > Best regards, > Matthias Bode > Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie. KGaA > Untermainanlage 1 > D-60329 Frankfurt am Main > GERMANY > Tel.: +49(0)69 71 34 53 80 > Mobile: +49(0)172 6 74 95 77 > Fax: +49(0)69 71 34 95 380 > E-mail: matthias.bode at oppenheim.de > Internet: http://www.oppenheim.de >