In computational complexity theory, P and NP are two classes of problems. P is the class of decision problems that a deterministic Turing machine can solve in polynomial time. In useful terms, any ...

Lance Fortnow on the current status and future outlook of solving the P-NP problem.

Constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) provide a versatile framework for modelling complex decision-making tasks where a collection of variables must be allocated values that satisfy specific ...

They have a mathematical, analog “solver” that can potentially find the best solution to NP-hard problems. NP-hardness is a theory of computational complexity, with problems that are famous for their ...

In the last few years, a few dedicated mathematicians have begun to study the computational complexity of video games. Their goal is to determine the inherent difficulty of the games and how they ...

Memcomputing is a novel non-Turing paradigm of computation that uses interacting memory cells (memprocessors for short) to store and process information on the same physical platform. It was recently ...

Whether or not machines can quickly answer yes-or-no questions could affect everything from national security to the limits of human knowledge On a snowy day in Princeton, N.J., in March 1956, a short ...

Quantum computers get a lot of people excited because they solve problems in a manner that’s fundamentally different from existing hardware. A certain class of mathematical problems, called ...

A major advance reveals deep connections between the classes of problems that computers can — and can’t — possibly do. At first glance, the big news coming out of this summer’s conference on the ...