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CSC 305 VTL Lecture 05 2021

This document discusses the complexity of algorithms. It explains that: 1) P problems can be solved in polynomial time, while NP problems cannot necessarily be solved in polynomial time but can be verified in polynomial time. 2) NP-hard problems are at least as hard as NP-complete problems, and NP-complete problems are NP and NP-hard. 3) If a problem A can be reduced to problem B in polynomial time, then B is at least as hard as A. The hardest problems, which are both NP and NP-hard, are called NP-complete problems.

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42 views8 pages

CSC 305 VTL Lecture 05 2021

This document discusses the complexity of algorithms. It explains that: 1) P problems can be solved in polynomial time, while NP problems cannot necessarily be solved in polynomial time but can be verified in polynomial time. 2) NP-hard problems are at least as hard as NP-complete problems, and NP-complete problems are NP and NP-hard. 3) If a problem A can be reduced to problem B in polynomial time, then B is at least as hard as A. The hardest problems, which are both NP and NP-hard, are called NP-complete problems.

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Bello Taiwo
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Algorithm and Complexity

Course C CSC 305 / CSC 225: / Computer Science


Lecture 05: Order of Algorithms

Name Prof. A. S. Sodiya

1
Polynomial Order of Algorithms
P - Problems that can be solved in polynomial time.
P- Polynomial time solving . Problems which can be solved in polynomial time, which
take time like O(n), O(n2), O(n3). Eg: finding maximum element in an array or to check
whether a string is palindrome or not. so there are many problems which can be solved in
polynomial time.

NP - Problems that can be verified in polynomial time.


Therefore, Every P problem is also a NP as every P problem can also be verified in
polynomial time, but viceversa is not true because every NP problem cannot be solved in
polynomial time.
• NP- Non deterministic Polynomial time solving. Problem which can't be solved in
polynomial time like TSP( travelling salesman problem) or An easy example of this is
subset sum: given a set of numbers, does there exist a subset whose sum is zero?.
• but NP problems are checkable in polynomial time means that given a solution of a
problem , we can check that whether the solution is correct or not in polynomial time.
NP-Hard and NP Complete Problems
P - Problems that can be solved in polynomial time.
NP - Problems that can be verified in polynomial time.
Therefore, Every P problem is also a NP as every P problem
can also be verified in polynomial time, but viceversa is not
true because every NP problem cannot be solved in polynomial
time.
• Now here are our problems depicted in using a venn
diagram,
Reducibility
• Take two problems A and B both are NP problems.
• Reducibility- If we can convert one instance of a problem A
into problem B (NP problem) then it means that A is reducible
to B.
• NP-hard-- Now suppose we found that A is reducible to B,
then it means that B is at least as hard as A.
• NP-Complete -- The group of problems which are both in NP
and NP-hard are known as NP-Complete problem.
• Now suppose we have a NP-Complete problem R and it is
reducible to Q then Q is at least as hard as R and since R is an
NP-hard problem. therefore Q will also be at least NP-hard , it
may be NP-complete also.
NP-hard Problem
Intuitively, these are the problems that are at least as hard as the
NP-complete problems. Note that NP-hard problems do not have
to be in NP, and they do not have to be decision problems.
The precise definition here is that a problem X is NP-hard, if
there is an NP-complete problem Y, such that Y is reducible to X
in polynomial time.
But since any NP-complete problem can be reduced to any other
NP-complete problem in polynomial time, all NP-complete
problems can be reduced to any NP-hard problem in polynomial
time. Then, if there is a solution to one NP-hard problem in
polynomial time, there is a solution to all NP problems in
polynomial time.
NP-hard Problem …..
Example

The halting problem is an NP-hard problem. This is the


problem that given a program P and input I, will it halt? This is
a decision problem but it is not in NP. It is clear that any NP-
complete problem can be reduced to this one. As another
example, any NP-complete problem is NP-hard.

My favorite NP-complete problem is the Minesweeper


problem.
NP-Complete Problem
NP-Complete is a complexity class which represents the set of
all problems X in NP for which it is possible to reduce any
other NP problem Y to X in polynomial time.

Intuitively this means that we can solve Y quickly if we know


how to solve X quickly. Precisely, Y is reducible to X, if there
is a polynomial time algorithm f to transform instances y of Y
to instances x = f(y) of X in polynomial time, with the property
that the answer to y is yes, if and only if the answer to f(y) is
yes.
NP-Complete Problem…
3-SAT. This is the problem wherein we are given a conjunction (ANDs) of 3-clause disjunctions
(ORs), statements of the form

(x_v11 OR x_v21 OR x_v31) AND


(x_v12 OR x_v22 OR x_v32) AND
... AND
(x_v1n OR x_v2n OR x_v3n)
where each x_vij is a boolean variable or the negation of a variable from a finite predefined list (x_1,
x_2, ... x_n).

It can be shown that every NP problem can be reduced to 3-SAT. The proof of this is technical and
requires use of the technical definition of NP (based on non-deterministic Turing machines). This is
known as Cook's theorem.

What makes NP-complete problems important is that if a deterministic polynomial time algorithm can
be found to solve one of them, every NP problem is solvable in polynomial time (one problem to rule
them all).

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