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Introduction to Complexity Theory

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Computability and Complexity Theory

Part of the book series: Texts in Computer Science ((TCS))

Abstract

The remaining chapters of this book are concerned with complexity theory. The goal of complexity theory is to provide mechanisms for classifying combinatorial problems and measuring the computational resources necessary to solve them. Complexity theory provides an explanation of why certain problems have no practical solutions and provides a way of anticipating difficulties involved in solving problems of certain types. The classification is quantitative and is intended to investigate what resources are necessary (lower bounds) and what resources are sufficient (upper bounds) to solve various problems.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    All logarithms in this book are binary.

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Correspondence to Steven Homer .

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© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

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Homer, S., Selman, A.L. (2011). Introduction to Complexity Theory. In: Computability and Complexity Theory. Texts in Computer Science. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0682-2_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0682-2_4

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-0681-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-0682-2

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