Turing Machine

A Turing machine is a mathematical model of computation describing an abstract machine that manipulates symbols on a strip of tape according to a table of rules.

How it works: The visualization shows a tape of cells and a read/write head. The machine reads the current cell, consults its rule table, and then:

1. Writes a new symbol to the current cell
2. Moves the head left or right
3. Changes to a new state

Despite its simplicity, a Turing machine can compute anything that any computer can compute. Alan Turing invented this model in 1936 to formalize the concept of "algorithm" and prove fundamental limits of computation.

Watch the machine process input according to its programmed rules. The state transitions demonstrate how mechanical symbol manipulation is sufficient for all computation.