Computability and Complexity

Foundations and Tools for Pursuing Scientific Applications
2024
ISBN: 978-3-031-53743-1
Verlag: Springer Nature Switzerland

Buch, Englisch, 346 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 569 g

Reihe: Undergraduate Topics in Computer Science

This is a book about computation, something which is ubiquitous in the modern world. More precisely, it examines computability theory and computational complexity theory. Computability theory is the part of mathematics and computer science which seeks to clarify what we mean by computation or algorithm. When is there a computational solution possible to some question? How can we show that none is possible? How computationally hard is the question we are concerned with? Arguably, this area lead to the development of digital computers. (Computational) complexity theory is an intellectual heir of computability theory. Complexity theory is concerned with understanding what resources are needed for computation, where typically we would measure the resources in terms of time and space. Can we perform some task in a feasible number of steps? Can we perform some algorithm with only a limited memory? Does randomness help? Are there standard approaches to overcoming computational difficulty?

Zielgruppe

Upper undergraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Downey, Rod

Fachgebiete

• Mathematik | Informatik Mathematik Mathematik Allgemein Mathematische Logik
• Mathematik | Informatik EDV | Informatik Angewandte Informatik
• Mathematik | Informatik EDV | Informatik Informatik Theoretische Informatik
• Naturwissenschaften Physik Angewandte Physik Statistische Physik, Dynamische Systeme

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction.- Some Naive Set Theory.- Regular Languages and Finite Automata.- General Models of Computation.- Deeper Computability.- Computational Complexity.- NP- and PSPACE-Completeness.- Some Structural Complexity.- Parameterized Complexity.- Average Case, Smoothed Analysis, and Generic Case.- Complexity.- References.

Über Autor(innen)

Rodney Downey is an Emeritus Professor at Victoria University of Wellington, NZ. He is the co-author of the Springer books, Fundamentals of Parameterized Complexity, and Algorithmic Randomness and Complexity.  He has won many prizes for his work, including (twice) the Shoenfield Prize for writing, as well as the Rutherford Medal, New Zealand’s premier science award.