Skip to content

A Universal Turing Machine with Two Internal States

A Universal Turing Machine with Two Internal States

Click for full-size.

A Universal Turing Machine with Two Internal States

by Shannon, Claude E. [Elwood]; McCarthy, J. (editor with Shannon)

  • Used
  • near fine
Condition
Near Fine
Seller
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Topsfield, Massachusetts, United States
Item Price
NZ$187.44
Or just NZ$168.70 with a
Bibliophiles Club Membership
NZ$8.50 Shipping to USA
Standard delivery: 5 to 14 days

More Shipping Options

Payment Methods Accepted

  • Visa
  • Mastercard
  • American Express
  • Discover
  • PayPal

About This Item

Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1956. Wraps. Near Fine. [1 (title page)], [1 (blank verso)], 157-165, [3 (blank)] pages. 10 x 7 inches. Stapled printed self-wrappers, with leaves trimmed at the spine. Light staining at foreedge The construction of this item is unusual. It consists of separate leaves of the printed paper in the original journal fonts, with a new title page "AUTOMATA STUDIES" (blank verso) and an added trailing blank leaf, all stapled at the spine. All examined copies from Shannon's files are the same, leading us to conclude it was likely an author offprint even though a reprint statement is not present. Wraps. Originally printed as an internal Bell Laboratories Memorandum: Number 54-114-38, May 15, 1954. "Automata Studies," Annals of Mathematics Studies number 34, 1956 (edited by Claude Shannon and John McCarthy), first published this Shannon paper as "A Universal Turing Machine With Two Internal States" on pages 157-165.

"Our main result is to show that a universal Turing machine can be constructed using one tape and having only two internal states. It will also be shown that it is impossible to do this with one internal state. Finally, a construction is given for a universal Turing machine with only two tape symbols." (p 158 of introduction)

"A Turing machine which, by appropriate programming using a finite length of input tape, can act as any Turing machine whatsoever. In his seminal paper, Turing himself gave the first construction for a universal Turing machine (Turing 1937, 1938). Shannon (1956) showed that two colors were sufficient, so long as enough states were used. [ as here ]" Wolfram Mathworld

PROVENANCE: The personal files of Claude E. Shannon (unmarked). There were multiple examples of this item in Shannon's files.

REFERENCES:
Sloane and Wyner, "Claude Elwood Shannon Collected Papers," #93.

Reviews

(Log in or Create an Account first!)

You’re rating the book as a work, not the seller or the specific copy you purchased!

Details

Bookseller
Kuenzig Books US (US)
Bookseller's Inventory #
29298
Title
A Universal Turing Machine with Two Internal States
Author
Shannon, Claude E. [Elwood]; McCarthy, J. (editor with Shannon)
Format/Binding
Wraps
Book Condition
Used - Near Fine
Quantity Available
1
Publisher
Princeton University Press
Place of Publication
Princeton, NJ
Date Published
1956

Terms of Sale

Kuenzig Books

Reserved items are held for 7 days pending receipt of payment. Reservations may be made by phone or email. Please identify the author, title, and stock number of the item. We accept wire transfers, checks and money orders drawn on U.S. banks in U.S. dollars. We also accept Paypal and American Express, Mastercard, VISA and Discover cards. Our Guarantee: All purchases are returnable within 30 days IF NOT AS DESCRIBED, presuming they are received in the same condition as sent. Please insure return shipments, and contact us in advance in order to make appropriate arrangements.

About the Seller

Kuenzig Books

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Biblio member since 2008
Topsfield, Massachusetts

About Kuenzig Books

Kuenzig Books specializes in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). We handle ephemera and artifacts including early computer material, the history of communications, and other innovations that have affected the way we live and work. We also deal in scientific instruments (didactic and professional), a broad range of documentary photography and ephemera, and other eclectic material as luck and interest provides.

Glossary

Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:

Reprint
Any printing of a book which follows the original edition. By definition, a reprint is not a first edition.
Leaves
Very generally, "leaves" refers to the pages of a book, as in the common phrase, "loose-leaf pages." A leaf is a single sheet...
Title Page
A page at the front of a book which may contain the title of the book, any subtitles, the authors, contributors, editors, the...
Fine
A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
Offprint
A copy of an article or reference material that once appeared in a larger publication.
New
A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
Spine
The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....

This Book’s Categories

tracking-