Output details
11 - Computer Science and Informatics
Swansea University
Limits to measurement in experiments governed by algorithms
<10> The theory of measurement begins with Helmholtz in 1887. This is the first paper to give an algorithmic theory of measurement based upon experiments controlled by algorithms: the process of performing an experiment is modelled by a Turing machine. This reveals that (i) an experiment’s duration depends upon the precision of measurement; (ii) there are quantities in classical experiments that cannot be measured for logical reasons. The paper led to work on time in axiomatic measurement theory and refutes seminal 1984 speculations by Geroch and Hartle on the computability of physical constarnts (Foundations of Physics 16 (1986) 533-550).