Combinatorial system
From Wikinfo
See also Combinatorial system by Fred Bauder.
A combinatorial system is a process by which a small set of diverse elements combine in ways dependent on their characteristics (rules) to produce systems. A simple example is the letters of an alphabet, which combined, following certain rules, can represent a written language. Life is a combinatorial system, as is DNA. Language is another.
The rules followed may be natural laws as in the way chemical elements combine to form chemical compounds or arbitrary conventions as in the way sounds are assigned to the letters of the alphabet or the association of a particular word with a particular meaning, the principle of the arbitrary sign.
External links
- Combinatorial systems as one of the Seven Wonders of the World, Convocation Address, Steven Pinker, McGill University, June 7, 1999.
Source
Derived in part from ideas and concepts in pages 2 to 12 of Words and Rules: The Ingredients of Language, by Steven Pinker, HarperCollins (1999), trade paperback, 350 pages, ISBN 0060958405
