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Engineering design is a computable function

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2009

Patrick A. Fitzhorn
Patrick A. Fitzhorn
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523.
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Abstract

Computational abstraction of engineering design leads to an elegant theory defining (1) the process of design as an abstract model of computability, the Turing machine; (2) the artifacts of design as enumerated strings from a (possibly multidimensional) grammar; and (3) design specifications or constraints as formal state changes that govern string enumeration. Using this theory, it is shown that engineering design is a computable function. A computational methodology based on the theory is then developed that can be described as a form follows function design paradigm.

Keywords

engineering designdesign artifactsTuring machinecomputable function
Type
Research Article
Information
AI EDAM , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , Winter 1994 , pp. 35 - 44
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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