Chaitin's Constant

Chaitin's Constant

In the computer science subfield of algorithmic information theory, a Chaitin constant (Chaitin omega number) or halting probability is a real number that informally represents the probability that a randomly constructed program will halt. These numbers are formed from a construction due to Gregory Chaitin.

Although there are infinitely many halting probabilities, it is common to use the letter Ω to refer to them as if there were only one. Because Ω depends on the program encoding used, it is sometimes called Chaitin's construction instead of Chaitin's constant when not referring to any specific encoding.

Each halting probability is a normal and transcendental real number which is not computable, which means that there is no algorithm that enumerates its digits.

Read more about Chaitin's Constant:  Background, Definition, Relationship To The Halting Problem, Interpretation As A Probability, Properties, Uncomputability, Incompleteness Theorem For Halting Probabilities, Super Omega

Famous quotes containing the word constant:

    There is a constant in the average American imagination and taste, for which the past must be preserved and celebrated in full-scale authentic copy; a philosophy of immortality as duplication. It dominates the relation with the self, with the past, not infrequently with the present, always with History and, even, with the European tradition.
    Umberto Eco (b. 1932)