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Word Problem (computability)
In computability theory and computational complexity theory, a decision problem is a computational problem that can be posed as a yes–no question of the input values. An example of a decision problem is deciding by means of an algorithm whether a given natural number is prime. Another is the problem "given two numbers ''x'' and ''y'', does ''x'' evenly divide ''y''?". The answer is either 'yes' or 'no' depending upon the values of ''x'' and ''y''. A method for solving a decision problem, given in the form of an algorithm, is called a decision procedure for that problem. A decision procedure for the decision problem "given two numbers ''x'' and ''y'', does ''x'' evenly divide ''y''?" would give the steps for determining whether ''x'' evenly divides ''y''. One such algorithm is long division. If the remainder is zero the answer is 'yes', otherwise it is 'no'. A decision problem which can be solved by an algorithm is called ''decidable''. Decision problems typically appear in mat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Decision Problem
In computability theory and computational complexity theory, a decision problem is a computational problem that can be posed as a yes–no question of the input values. An example of a decision problem is deciding by means of an algorithm whether a given natural number is prime. Another is the problem "given two numbers ''x'' and ''y'', does ''x'' evenly divide ''y''?". The answer is either 'yes' or 'no' depending upon the values of ''x'' and ''y''. A method for solving a decision problem, given in the form of an algorithm, is called a decision procedure for that problem. A decision procedure for the decision problem "given two numbers ''x'' and ''y'', does ''x'' evenly divide ''y''?" would give the steps for determining whether ''x'' evenly divides ''y''. One such algorithm is long division. If the remainder is zero the answer is 'yes', otherwise it is 'no'. A decision problem which can be solved by an algorithm is called ''decidable''. Decision problems typically appear in mat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gödel Numbering
In mathematical logic, a Gödel numbering is a function that assigns to each symbol and well-formed formula of some formal language a unique natural number, called its Gödel number. The concept was developed by Kurt Gödel for the proof of his incompleteness theorems. () A Gödel numbering can be interpreted as an encoding in which a number is assigned to each symbol of a mathematical notation, after which a sequence of natural numbers can then represent a sequence of symbols. These sequences of natural numbers can again be represented by single natural numbers, facilitating their manipulation in formal theories of arithmetic. Since the publishing of Gödel's paper in 1931, the term "Gödel numbering" or "Gödel code" has been used to refer to more general assignments of natural numbers to mathematical objects. Simplified overview Gödel noted that each statement within a system can be represented by a natural number (its ''Gödel number''). The significance of this was th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Function Problem
In computational complexity theory, a function problem is a computational problem where a single output (of a total function) is expected for every input, but the output is more complex than that of a decision problem. For function problems, the output is not simply 'yes' or 'no'. Formal definition A functional problem P is defined as a relation R over strings of an arbitrary alphabet \Sigma: : R \subseteq \Sigma^* \times \Sigma^*. An algorithm solves P if for every input x such that there exists a y satisfying (x, y) \in R, the algorithm produces one such y. Examples A well-known function problem is given by the Functional Boolean Satisfiability Problem, FSAT for short. The problem, which is closely related to the SAT decision problem, can be formulated as follows: :Given a boolean formula \varphi with variables x_1, \ldots, x_n, find an assignment x_i \rightarrow \ such that \varphi evaluates to \text or decide that no such assignment exists. In this case the relation R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NP (complexity)
In computational complexity theory, NP (nondeterministic polynomial time) is a complexity class used to classify decision problems. NP is the set of decision problems for which the problem instances, where the answer is "yes", have proofs verifiable in polynomial time by a deterministic Turing machine, or alternatively the set of problems that can be solved in polynomial time by a nondeterministic Turing machine.''Polynomial time'' refers to how quickly the number of operations needed by an algorithm, relative to the size of the problem, grows. It is therefore a measure of efficiency of an algorithm. An equivalent definition of NP is the set of decision problems ''solvable'' in polynomial time by a nondeterministic Turing machine. This definition is the basis for the abbreviation NP; " nondeterministic, polynomial time". These two definitions are equivalent because the algorithm based on the Turing machine consists of two phases, the first of which consists of a guess abou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boolean Satisfiability Problem
In logic and computer science, the Boolean satisfiability problem (sometimes called propositional satisfiability problem and abbreviated SATISFIABILITY, SAT or B-SAT) is the problem of determining if there exists an interpretation that satisfies a given Boolean formula. In other words, it asks whether the variables of a given Boolean formula can be consistently replaced by the values TRUE or FALSE in such a way that the formula evaluates to TRUE. If this is the case, the formula is called ''satisfiable''. On the other hand, if no such assignment exists, the function expressed by the formula is FALSE for all possible variable assignments and the formula is ''unsatisfiable''. For example, the formula "''a'' AND NOT ''b''" is satisfiable because one can find the values ''a'' = TRUE and ''b'' = FALSE, which make (''a'' AND NOT ''b'') = TRUE. In contrast, "''a'' AND NOT ''a''" is unsatisfiable. SAT is the first problem that was proved to be NP-complete ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Complexity Class
In computational complexity theory, a complexity class is a set of computational problems of related resource-based complexity. The two most commonly analyzed resources are time and memory. In general, a complexity class is defined in terms of a type of computational problem, a model of computation, and a bounded resource like time or memory. In particular, most complexity classes consist of decision problems that are solvable with a Turing machine, and are differentiated by their time or space (memory) requirements. For instance, the class P is the set of decision problems solvable by a deterministic Turing machine in polynomial time. There are, however, many complexity classes defined in terms of other types of problems (e.g. counting problems and function problems) and using other models of computation (e.g. probabilistic Turing machines, interactive proof systems, Boolean circuits, and quantum computers). The study of the relationships between complexity classes is a ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Complete Problem
In computational complexity theory, a computational problem is complete for a complexity class if it is, in a technical sense, among the "hardest" (or "most expressive") problems in the complexity class. More formally, a problem ''p'' is called hard for a complexity class ''C'' under a given type of reduction if there exists a reduction (of the given type) from any problem in ''C'' to ''p''. If a problem is both hard for the class and a member of the class, it is complete for that class (for that type of reduction). A problem that is complete for a class ''C'' is said to be C-complete, and the class of all problems complete for ''C'' is denoted C-complete. The first complete class to be defined and the most well known is NP-complete, a class that contains many difficult-to-solve problems that arise in practice. Similarly, a problem hard for a class ''C'' is called C-hard, e.g. NP-hard. Normally, it is assumed that the reduction in question does not have higher computational co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polynomial-time Reduction
In computational complexity theory, a polynomial-time reduction is a method for solving one problem using another. One shows that if a hypothetical subroutine solving the second problem exists, then the first problem can be solved by transforming or reducing it to inputs for the second problem and calling the subroutine one or more times. If both the time required to transform the first problem to the second, and the number of times the subroutine is called is polynomial, then the first problem is polynomial-time reducible to the second. A polynomial-time reduction proves that the first problem is no more difficult than the second one, because whenever an efficient algorithm exists for the second problem, one exists for the first problem as well. By contraposition, if no efficient algorithm exists for the first problem, none exists for the second either. Polynomial-time reductions are frequently used in complexity theory for defining both complexity classes and complete problems ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Many-one Reduction
In computability theory and computational complexity theory, a many-one reduction (also called mapping reduction) is a reduction which converts instances of one decision problem L_1 into instances of a second decision problem L_2 where the instance reduced to is in the language L_2 if the initial instance was in its language L_1 and is not in the language L_2 if the initial instance was not in its language L_1. Thus if we can decide whether L_2 instances are in the language L_2, we can decide whether L_1 instances are in its language by applying the reduction and solving L_2. Thus, reductions can be used to measure the relative computational difficulty of two problems. It is said that L_1 reduces to L_2 if, in layman's terms L_2 is harder to solve than L_1. That is to say, any algorithm that solves L_2 can also be used as part of a (otherwise relatively simple) program that solves L_1. Many-one reductions are a special case and stronger form of Turing reductions. With many-one red ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Undecidable Problems
In computability theory, an undecidable problem is a type of computational problem that requires a yes/no answer, but where there cannot possibly be any computer program that always gives the correct answer; that is, any possible program would sometimes give the wrong answer or run forever without giving any answer. More formally, an undecidable problem is a problem whose language is not a recursive set; see the article Decidable language. There are uncountably many undecidable problems, so the list below is necessarily incomplete. Though undecidable languages are not recursive languages, they may be subsets of Turing recognizable languages: i.e., such undecidable languages may be recursively enumerable. Many, if not most, undecidable problems in mathematics can be posed as word problems: determining when two distinct strings of symbols (encoding some mathematical concept or object) represent the same object or not. For undecidability in axiomatic mathematics, see List of stateme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halting Problem
In computability theory, the halting problem is the problem of determining, from a description of an arbitrary computer program and an input, whether the program will finish running, or continue to run forever. Alan Turing proved in 1936 that a general algorithm to solve the halting problem for all possible program–input pairs cannot exist. For any program that might determine whether programs halt, a "pathological" program , called with some input, can pass its own source and its input to ''f'' and then specifically do the opposite of what ''f'' predicts ''g'' will do. No ''f'' can exist that handles this case. A key part of the proof is a mathematical definition of a computer and program, which is known as a Turing machine; the halting problem is '' undecidable'' over Turing machines. It is one of the first cases of decision problems proven to be unsolvable. This proof is significant to practical computing efforts, defining a class of applications which no programming inventi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Recursively Enumerable Set
In computability theory, a set ''S'' of natural numbers is called computably enumerable (c.e.), recursively enumerable (r.e.), semidecidable, partially decidable, listable, provable or Turing-recognizable if: *There is an algorithm such that the set of input numbers for which the algorithm halts is exactly ''S''. Or, equivalently, *There is an enumeration algorithm, algorithm that enumerates the members of ''S''. That means that its output is simply a list of all the members of ''S'': ''s''1, ''s''2, ''s''3, ... . If ''S'' is infinite, this algorithm will run forever. The first condition suggests why the term ''semidecidable'' is sometimes used. More precisely, if a number is in the set, one can ''decide'' this by running the algorithm, but if the number is not in the set, the algorithm runs forever, and no information is returned. A set that is "completely decidable" is a computable set. The second condition suggests why ''computably enumerable'' is used. The abbreviations ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
