1936年发表理想计算机的论文,科学网—图灵1936年论文解读（1）：可计算性 - 柳渝的博文...

“可计算性(Computability)”是可计算性理论的核心概念，具有深刻的数学内涵和哲学底蕴，图灵、丘奇、哥德尔等前辈的工作为此概念打下了坚实的基础，应该说对此概念的理解已经不成问题了，然而从“NP是可计算的”流行观念看，此概念并未得到人们充分而正确的解读，这或许是造成千禧年难题“P versus NP”的最根本原因。

我们从回答“什么是可计算性？”说起，来解读学术界流行观点的回答，指出“可计算性”蕴含着“机器”与“问题”二个不同的层次：

一，学术界回答“什么是可计算性？”的典型答案

可计算性(calculability)是指一个实际问题是否可以使用计算机来解决。

Computability is the ability to solve a problem in an effective manner. It is a key topic of the field of computability theory within mathematical logic and the theory of computation within computer science. The computability of a problem is closely linked to the existence of an algorithm to solve the problem.

One goal of computability theory is to determine which problems, or classes of problems, can be solved in each model of computation.

3，Michael Sipser的书“Introduction to the Theory of Computation”

此书是计算理论领域的经典著作，常被大学选为教材。书中干脆就不谈“可计算性”，直接用“可计算函数”代替(p. 234)：

COMPUTABLE FUNCTIONS：A Turing machine computes a function by starting with the input to the function on the tape and halting with the output of the function on the tape.

A mathematical problem is computable if it can be solved in principle by a computing device.

二，解读“可计算性(Computability)”与“可计算的(computable)”

可见，上述回答实际上是在答“什么是可计算问题(computable problem)？”，而不是直接答“什么是可计算性(Computability)？”，那么，我们不禁要问：“computability”与“computable problem”是一回事吗？

对于“computable problem”的标准答案是由丘奇－图灵论题给出的(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church–Turing_thesis)：

J. B. Rosser (1939) addresses the notion of "effective computability" as follows: "Clearly the existence of CC and RC (Church's and Rosser's proofs) presupposes a precise definition of 'effective'. 'Effective method' is here used in the rather special sense of a method each step of which is precisely predetermined and which is certain to produce the answer in a finite number of steps". Thus the adverb-adjective "effective" is used in a sense of "1a: producing a decided, decisive, or desired effect", and "capable of producing a result".

In the following, the words "effectively calculable" will mean "produced by any intuitively 'effective' means whatsoever" and "effectively computable" will mean "produced by a Turing-machine or equivalent mechanical device". Turing's "definitions" given in a footnote in his 1939 Ph.D. thesis Systems of Logic Based on Ordinals, supervised by Church, are virtually the same:

"† We shall use the expression 'computable function' to mean a function calculable by a machine, and let 'effectively calculable' refer to the intuitive idea without particular identification with any one of these definitions."

The thesis can be state