Abstract
We outline a conceptual framework for teaching the basic notions and results of complexity theory. Our focus is on using definitions and on organizing the presentation in a way that reflects the fundamental nature of the material. We do not attempt to provide a self-contained presentation of the material itself, but rather outline our suggestions regarding how this material should be presented in class. In addition, we express our opinions on numerous related issues.
We focus on the P-vs-NP Question, the general notion of a reduction, and the theory of NP-completeness. In particular, we suggest presenting the P-vs-NP Question both in terms of search problems and in terms of decision problems (where NP is viewed as a class of proof systems). As for the theory of NP-completeness, we suggest highlighting the mere existence of NP-complete sets.
This essay was written for the current volume. The technical presentation was adapted from earlier lecture notes (e.g., [4]).
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© 2006 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Goldreich, O. (2006). On Teaching the Basics of Complexity Theory. In: Goldreich, O., Rosenberg, A.L., Selman, A.L. (eds) Theoretical Computer Science. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 3895. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/11685654_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/11685654_15
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-32880-3
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