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Mahaney's Theorem
Mahaney's theorem is a theorem in computational complexity theory proven by Stephen Mahaney that states that if any sparse language is NP-complete, then P = NP. Also, if any sparse language is NP-complete with respect to Turing reduction In computability theory, a Turing reduction from a decision problem A to a decision problem B is an oracle machine which decides problem A given an oracle for B (Rogers 1967, Soare 1987). It can be understood as an algorithm that could be used to s ...s, then the polynomial-time hierarchy collapses to \Delta^P_2. Mahaney's argument does not actually require the sparse language to be in NP, so there is a sparse NP-hard set if and only if P = NP. This is because the existence of an NP-hard sparse set implies the existence of an NP-complete sparse set. References {{compsci-stub Computational complexity theory ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computational Complexity Theory
In theoretical computer science and mathematics, computational complexity theory focuses on classifying computational problems according to their resource usage, and relating these classes to each other. A computational problem is a task solved by a computer. A computation problem is solvable by mechanical application of mathematical steps, such as an algorithm. A problem is regarded as inherently difficult if its solution requires significant resources, whatever the algorithm used. The theory formalizes this intuition, by introducing mathematical models of computation to study these problems and quantifying their computational complexity, i.e., the amount of resources needed to solve them, such as time and storage. Other measures of complexity are also used, such as the amount of communication (used in communication complexity), the number of gates in a circuit (used in circuit complexity) and the number of processors (used in parallel computing). One of the roles of computationa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sparse Language
In computational complexity theory, a sparse language is a formal language (a set of strings) such that the complexity function, counting the number of strings of length ''n'' in the language, is bounded by a polynomial function of ''n''. They are used primarily in the study of the relationship of the complexity class NP with other classes. The complexity class of all sparse languages is called SPARSE. Sparse languages are called ''sparse'' because there are a total of 2''n'' strings of length ''n'', and if a language only contains polynomially many of these, then the proportion of strings of length ''n'' that it contains rapidly goes to zero as ''n'' grows. All unary languages are sparse. An example of a nontrivial sparse language is the set of binary strings containing exactly ''k'' 1 bits for some fixed ''k''; for each ''n'', there are only \binom strings in the language, which is bounded by ''n''''k''. Relationships to other complexity classes SPARSE contains TALLY, the cl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NP-complete
In computational complexity theory, a problem is NP-complete when: # it is a problem for which the correctness of each solution can be verified quickly (namely, in polynomial time) and a brute-force search algorithm can find a solution by trying all possible solutions. # the problem can be used to simulate every other problem for which we can verify quickly that a solution is correct. In this sense, NP-complete problems are the hardest of the problems to which solutions can be verified quickly. If we could find solutions of some NP-complete problem quickly, we could quickly find the solutions of every other problem to which a given solution can be easily verified. The name "NP-complete" is short for "nondeterministic polynomial-time complete". In this name, "nondeterministic" refers to nondeterministic Turing machines, a way of mathematically formalizing the idea of a brute-force search algorithm. Polynomial time refers to an amount of time that is considered "quick" for a de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Turing Reduction
In computability theory, a Turing reduction from a decision problem A to a decision problem B is an oracle machine which decides problem A given an oracle for B (Rogers 1967, Soare 1987). It can be understood as an algorithm that could be used to solve A if it had available to it a subroutine for solving ''B''. The concept can be analogously applied to function problems. If a Turing reduction from A to B exists, then every algorithm for B can be used to produce an algorithm for A, by inserting the algorithm for B at each place where the oracle machine computing A queries the oracle for B. However, because the oracle machine may query the oracle a large number of times, the resulting algorithm may require more time asymptotically than either the algorithm for B or the oracle machine computing A. A Turing reduction in which the oracle machine runs in polynomial time is known as a Cook reduction. The first formal definition of relative computability, then called relative reducibility, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polynomial Hierarchy
In computational complexity theory, the polynomial hierarchy (sometimes called the polynomial-time hierarchy) is a hierarchy of complexity classes that generalize the classes NP and co-NP. Each class in the hierarchy is contained within PSPACE. The hierarchy can be defined using oracle machines or alternating Turing machines. It is a resource-bounded counterpart to the arithmetical hierarchy and analytical hierarchy from mathematical logic. The union of the classes in the hierarchy is denoted PH. Classes within the hierarchy have complete problems (with respect to polynomial-time reductions) which ask if quantified Boolean formulae hold, for formulae with restrictions on the quantifier order. It is known that equality between classes on the same level or consecutive levels in the hierarchy would imply a "collapse" of the hierarchy to that level. Definitions There are multiple equivalent definitions of the classes of the polynomial hierarchy. Oracle definition For the oracle def ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NP-hard
In computational complexity theory, NP-hardness ( non-deterministic polynomial-time hardness) is the defining property of a class of problems that are informally "at least as hard as the hardest problems in NP". A simple example of an NP-hard problem is the subset sum problem. A more precise specification is: a problem ''H'' is NP-hard when every problem ''L'' in NP can be reduced in polynomial time to ''H''; that is, assuming a solution for ''H'' takes 1 unit time, ''H''s solution can be used to solve ''L'' in polynomial time. As a consequence, finding a polynomial time algorithm to solve any NP-hard problem would give polynomial time algorithms for all the problems in NP. As it is suspected that P≠NP, it is unlikely that such an algorithm exists. It is suspected that there are no polynomial-time algorithms for NP-hard problems, but that has not been proven. Moreover, the class P, in which all problems can be solved in polynomial time, is contained in the NP class. Defi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Springer Science+Business Media
Springer Science+Business Media, commonly known as Springer, is a German multinational publishing company of books, e-books and peer-reviewed journals in science, humanities, technical and medical (STM) publishing. Originally founded in 1842 in Berlin, it expanded internationally in the 1960s, and through mergers in the 1990s and a sale to venture capitalists it fused with Wolters Kluwer and eventually became part of Springer Nature in 2015. Springer has major offices in Berlin, Heidelberg, Dordrecht, and New York City. History Julius Springer founded Springer-Verlag in Berlin in 1842 and his son Ferdinand Springer grew it from a small firm of 4 employees into Germany's then second largest academic publisher with 65 staff in 1872.Chronology ". Springer Science+Business Media. In 1964, Springer expanded its business internationally, o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
