1

NP HARD AND NP COMPLETE

PROBLEMS
BASIC CONCEPTS
The computing times of algorithms fall into
two groups.
Group1 consists of problems whose
solutions are bounded by the polynomial of
small degree.
Example Binary search o(log n) , sorting
o(n log n), matrix multiplication 0(n
2.81
).
2
NP HARD AND NP COMPLETE
PROBLEMS (Contd..)
Group2 contains problems whose best known
algorithms are non polynomial.
Example Traveling salesperson problem 0(n
2
2
n
),
knapsack problem 0(2
n/2
) etc.
There are two classes of non polynomial time
problems
1) NP- hard
2) NP-complete
A problem which is NP complete will have the
property that it can be solved in polynomial time iff
all other NP complete problems can also be solved in
polynomial time.
3
NP HARD AND NP COMPLETE
PROBLEMS (Contd..)
If an NP-hard problem can be solved in
polynomial time, then all NP-complete
problems can be solved in polynomial time.
All NP-complete problems are NP-hard, but
all NP-hard problems are not NP-complete.
The class of NP-hard problems is very rich
in the sense that it contain many problems
from a wide variety of disciplines.
4
DETERMINISTIC and
NONDETERMINISTIC ALGORITHMS
Algorithms with the property that the result of every
operation is uniquely defined are termed
deterministic.
Such algorithms agree with the way programs are
executed on a computer.
In a theoretical framework we can allow algorithms
to contain operations whose outcome is not
uniquely defined but is limited to a specified set of
possibilities.
5
Deterministic and Nondeterministic
algorithms (contd..)
The machine executing such operations are allowed to
choose any one of these outcomes subject to a
termination condition.
This leads to the concept of non deterministic
algorithms.
To specify such algorithms in SPARKS, we introduce
three statements
i) choice (s) arbitrarily chooses one of the
elements of the set S.
ii) failure . Signals an unsuccessful completion.
iii) Success : Signals a successful completion.
6
Deterministic and Nondeterministic
algorithms (contd..)
Whenever there is a set of choices that leads to a
successful completion then one such set of choices is
always made and the algorithm terminates.
A nondeterministic algorithm terminates
unsuccessfully if and only if there exists no set of
choices leading to a successful signal.
A machine capable of executing a non deterministic
algorithm is called a non deterministic machine.
While non-deterministic machines do not exist in
practice they will provide strong intuitive reason to
conclude that certain problems cannot be solved by fast
deterministic algorithms.
7
Example of a non deterministic algorithm
// The problem is to search for an element x //
// Output j such that A(j) =x; or j=0 if x is not in A //
j choice (1 :n )
if A(j) =x then print(j) ; success endif
print (0) ; failure
complexity 0(1);
- Non-deterministic decision algorithms generate a zero or
one as their output.
- Deterministic search algorithm complexity. O(n)

8
Deterministic and Nondeterministic
algorithms (contd..)
Many optimization problems can be recast into decision
problems with the property that the decision problem can be
solved in polynomial time iff the corresponding optimization
problem can .
EXAMPLE : [0/1 knapsack] :
The decision is to determine if there is a 0/1 assignment of
values to x
i
1s i s n such that p
i
x
i
> R, and w
i
x
i
s M, R,
M are given numbers p
i
, w
i
>0, 1s i s n.
It is easy to obtain polynomial time non deterministic
algorithms for many problems that can be deterministically
solved by a systematic search of a solution space of
exponential size.
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SATISFIABILITY
Let x
1
,x
2
,x
3
.x
n
denotes Boolean variables.
_
Let x
i
denotes the relation of x
i
.
A literal is either a variable or its negation.
A formula in the prepositional calculus is an expression
that can be constructed using literals and the operators
and A or v.
A clause is a formula with at least one positive literal.
The satiability problem is to determine if a formula is
true for some assignment of truth values to the
variables.
10
SATISFIABILITY (Contd..)
It is easy to obtain a polynomial time non
determination algorithm that terminates
successfully if and only if a given prepositional
formula E(x
1
,x
2
x
n
) is satiable.
Such an algorithm could proceed by simply
choosing (non deterministically) one of the 2
n

possible assignments of truth values to (x
1
,x
2
x
n
)
and verify that E(x
1
,x
2
x
n
) is true for that
assignment.
11
Definition of the classes NP-hard and NP-
complete
P is the set of all decision problems solvable by a
deterministic algorithm in polynomial time.
NP is the set of all decision problems solvable by a
nondeterministic algorithm in polynomial time.
Since deterministic algorithm are a special case of non
deterministic ones, we can conclude that P_NP.
The most famous unsolved problem in computer
science is whether P = NP or P = NP.
Is it possible that for all the problems in NP their exist
polynomial time deterministic algorithms which have
remained undiscovered ?
12
Definition of the classes NP-hard and NP-
complete (contd..)
In considering this problem S.COOK
formulated the following question :
Is there any single problem in NP such that
if we showed it to be in P then that would
imply that P = NP.
COOKs Theorem : Satisfiability is in P if
and only if P = NP.
13
Definition of the classes NP-hard and NP-
complete (contd..)
Definition : Reducibility
Let L
1
and L
2
be problems. L
1
reduces to L
2
(L
1
o
L
2
) if and only if there is a deterministic
polynomial time algorithm to solve L
1
that solves
L
2
in polynomial time.
If L
1
o L
2
and L
2
o L
3
then L
1
o L
3
.
Definition : NP-Hard Problem : A problem L is NP-
hard if any only if satisfiability reduces to L.
14
Definition of the classes NP-hard and NP-
complete (contd..)
Definition : NP-complete Problem :
A problem L is NP-complete if and only if L is NP-hard
and L NP.
There are NP-hard problems that are not NP-complete.
Example :
Halting problem is NP-hard decision problem, but it is not
NP-complete.
Halting Problem :
To determine for an arbitrary deterministic algorithm A
and an input I whether algorithm A with input I ever
terminates (or enters an infinite loop).
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Halting problem is not NP-complete; but
NP-hard
Halting problem is un-decidable.
- Hence there exists no algorithm to solve this problem.
- So, it is not in NP.
- So, it is not NP-complete.
Halting problem is NP-hard
To show that Halting problem is NP-hard, we show that
satisfiability is o halting problem.
For this let us construct an algorithm A whose input is a
prepositional formula X.
- Suppose X has n variables.
- Algorithm A tries out all 2
n
possible truth assignments and
verifies if X is satisfiable.
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Halting problem is NP-hard (Contd..)
- If it is then A stops.
- If X is not satisfiable, then A enters an infinite loop.
- Hence A halts on input iff X is satisfiable.
- If we had a polynomial time algorithm for the halting
problem, then we could solve the satisfiability problem
in polynomial time using A and X as input to the
algorithm for the halting problem .
- Hence the halting problem is an NP-hard problem
which is not in NP.
- So it is not NP-complete.

17
SOME SIMPLIIFIED NP-HARD
PROBLEMS
(ii)Generating optimal code for a parallel assignment
statement is NP-hard,
- however if the expressions are restricted to be simple
variables, then optimal code can be generated in
polynomial time.
(iii)Generating optimal code for level one directed a- cyclic
graphs is NP-hard but optimal code for trees can be
generated in polynomial time.
(iv)Determining if a planner graph is three colourable is NP-
Hard
- To determine if it is two colorable is a polynomial
complexity problem. (We only have to see if it is bipartite)