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Csci471 Intro Lecture 0

This document provides an introduction and overview for a course on Complexity and Computability. It discusses topics that will be covered including Turing machines, decidable and undecidable languages, and complexity classes P and NP. It provides tips for doing well in the course such as starting homework early, attending office hours, and being active. Assessment will include attendance, homework assignments, midterms, and a final exam. A preliminary course outline and two sample problems are also included.

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Dokin Nikod
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8 views

Csci471 Intro Lecture 0

This document provides an introduction and overview for a course on Complexity and Computability. It discusses topics that will be covered including Turing machines, decidable and undecidable languages, and complexity classes P and NP. It provides tips for doing well in the course such as starting homework early, attending office hours, and being active. Assessment will include attendance, homework assignments, midterms, and a final exam. A preliminary course outline and two sample problems are also included.

Uploaded by

Dokin Nikod
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CSCI 471: Complexity and Computability

LECTURE 0
Today:
• Introduction
• Problem solving

1
Meiram Murzabulatov
Welcome to CSCI 471
• This is a more advanced course in the theory of computation.

• You are expected to already know DFAs/NFAs (regular languages),


CFGs/PDAs (context-free languages), and Turing machines.

• We will learn more about TMs, decidable and undecidable languages,


Problems in P and NP.

• Lots of proofs and problem solving!

• Will have fun or torture J


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Why study theory of computation?
• a language for talking about program behavior
• feasibility (what can and cannot be done)
– halting problem, NP-completeness
• analyzing correctness and resource usage
• computationally hard problems are essential for cryptography
• computation is fundamental to understanding the world
- cells, brains, physical systems all can be viewed as computational devices.
• it is fun! or torture!

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Tips for the course
• Concepts in this course take some time to sink in: be careful not to fall
behind.
• Take advantage of office hours.
• Be active in lectures and on piazza.
• Allocate lots of time for the course: comparable to a project course, but
spread more evenly.

4
Tips: HW
• Start working on HW early.

• Spread your HW time over multiple days.

• You can work in groups (up to 3 people), but spend 1-2 hours thinking
about it on your own before your group meeting.

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Tips: How to read a math text
• Not like reading a mystery novel.
• The goal is not to get the answers, but to learn the techniques.
• Always try to foresee what is coming next.
• Always think how you would approach a problem before reading the
solution.
• This applies to things that are not explicitly labeled as problems.

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Textbook
• Introduction to the Theory of Computation, M. Sipser, 3rd edition.

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Piazza
• We are going to use Piazza for class-related discussion.

• Please go to piazza.com/nu.edu.kz/fall2023/csci471 in order to enroll.

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Assessment
• Attendance - 10%

• HW assignments - 30% (at least 5)

• 2 Midterm Exams - 30% (15% each)

• Final exam - 30%

9
Preliminary Course Outline (subject to change!)

10
Problem 1
• There are 33 students enrolled in the Complexity and Computabulity
course. At the end of the semester, the grader reported for each pair of
students whether they have ever collaborated with each other on the
homework. Prove that there exist 2 students that collaborated with exactly
the same number of other students.

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Problem 2
• There are 𝑛 people in the room. Prove that there is a group of size at least !" log ! 𝑛
among these 𝑛 people such that everyone knows each other in the group, or
conversely everyone does not know each other in the group.

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