• sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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    27 days ago

    Hmm, you seem to be completely discounting calculus, where a given problem may have 0, 1, 2, or infinite solutions. Or math involving quantum states.

    In math, an answer is either right, wrong, or partially right (but incomplete).

      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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        27 days ago

        Calculus is generally pretty easy to do mental arithmetic on, especially when talking about real-world situations, like estimating the acceleration of a car or something. Those could have multiple answers, but one won’t apply (i.e. cars are assumed to be going forward, so negative speed/acceleration doesn’t make much sense, unless braking).

        Math w/ quantum states is a bit less applicable, but doing some statics in your head for determining how many samples you need for a given confidence in a quantum calculation (essentially just some stats and an integral) could fit as mental math if it’s your job to estimate costs. Quantum capacity is expensive, after all…

    • technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      27 days ago

      Quantum states is physics, not math.

      And mathematically a probabilistic theorem is still a theorem.

      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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        27 days ago

        Yes, but physics is math with more variables.

        But there’s plenty of math related to quantum states that can make sense, such as if you know a given machine will give the right answer 51% of the time, and you want to know how many iterations you’ll need to get a certain confidence that you are seeing the correct answer. That’s basic statistics, which is also math, but it’s relevant to quantum states in that you’re evaluating a computing system based on qubits.