What is the name of the theoretical computing model Turing introduced?
Answer
Turing machine
Answer
Turing machine
The theoretical computing model Turing introduced is the Turing machine. He described it in his 1936 paper “On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem,” while investigating the limits of mechanical calculation.
A Turing machine is an abstract device with a tape divided into cells, a read-and-write head, a finite set of states, and rules that determine each operation. It can read a symbol, replace it, move left or right, and change state. Despite its simplicity, the model can represent any algorithm that can be carried out by a general-purpose computer.
The Turing machine is not a physical computer that Turing built for wartime codebreaking. The bombe was a separate electromechanical machine used against Enigma, while the Turing test concerned machine intelligence. “Universal machine” refers to the especially powerful version capable of simulating any other Turing machine, but the general model is called the Turing machine.
Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Aug. 2026