Models of duality

Got it! This site uses cookies. You consent to this by clicking on "Got it!" or by continuing to use this website.nbsp; Note: This appears on each machine/browser from which this site is accessed.

There are areas of study where there is more than one way to view things.

There are two ways of looking at computation.

Operational view: Turing machine - how computation works (bottom-up view)
Declarative view: Church lambda calculus - what computation does mathematically/functionally (top-down view)

The good computer scientist needs to understand both views and how to switch between them as needed.

Two ways of looking at colors: (Note: there are other useful color models)

RGB additive model (light, added to black/screen)
CMYK subtractive model (pigments, print, subtracted from white/paper)

Each model is correct. In many cases, one way may be easier to work with or use than the other model.

Two correct ways of looking at physics:

wave model
particle model

Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle applies. A good physicist needs to know and use either.

Note: Heisenbugs in programs do not appear when looking.

Two ways of looking at statistics:

frequentist model (human use for static decisions due to historical factors)
Bayesian model (computer use for dynamic decisions due to it works)

Each model is correct. In many cases, one way may be easier to work with or use than the other model.

The good news is that the Bayesian approach opens fine new possibilities for making the most of complex data. The bad news is that it means putting aside almost everything you may have learned in this book and elsewhere about estimation, confidence intervals, P-values, hypothesis testing, and so on. David Spiegelhalter, The Art of Statistics: How To Learn From Data (p. 305)

Note: This comment is made on page 305 of a very interesting and popular book on statistics.

The Bayesian approach is used, behind the scenes, by many top companies.

But those top companies do not talk about it much.

It is a competitive advantage, so, as someone once said (I have heard this from several people in different industries about cutting-edge techniques), If they tell you about it, it means that they are not using it any more.