Post #2346194
2026-04-27 08:27 UTC
@dpiponi@mathstodon.xyz This reminds me of the observation that there's a representation of numeric quantities that can perform both addition and multiplication of numbers in constant time, but it's useless for numeric calculation because there's no corresponding algorithm for the ≤ relation.
(The representation being expression trees with numbers at the leaves.)
Replies (1)
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@mjd@mathstodon.xyz 2026-04-27 08:31
@dpiponi@mathstodon.xyz An interesting contrast with the representation of integers as lists of the exponents of their prime factors, where ×, gcd, lcm, and = are fast and easy, ≤ is doable, but it's of very limited use because + is impossible.