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We have proved "BB(5) = 47,176,870" (bbchallenge.org)
1 point by p4bl0 on July 18, 2024 | hide | past | favorite | 2 comments


Nevermind, I just found out the discussion did happen (I was really surprised not to find that link already submitted), but using Quanta Magazine's link: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40857041


BB(5) refers to the fifth Busy Beaver number, representing the maximum number of steps a Turing machine with 5 states can run before halting.

Here's a breakdown of BB(5):

Turing Machine: A theoretical model of computation with a tape, a head, and a set of instructions. Busy Beaver Problem: Finding the Turing machine with a specific number of states that produces the most output (often measured by running time) before stopping. BB(5): The maximum number of steps a 5-state Turing machine can run before halting. While an exact solution was difficult to pinpoint for many years, a collaborative effort called the Busy Beaver Challenge in 2022 successfully determined BB(5) to be 47,176,870. This means the champion 5-state Turing machine tirelessly executes for this many steps before stopping.




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