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In this problem, "runtimes" refer to worst-case complexity compared up to constant factor.

Say you have two problems, A and B, in the same time hierarchy, and it is clear that algorithm P solves A with that time complexity.

Suppose an oracle spits out the result of problem A using algorithm P. Then does problem B, with the help of this oracle (call this B^P), necessarily have an algorithm running in less time than problem B without the oracle?

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  • $\begingroup$ I don't have an answer, but I have been wondering about this too. It seems that all Tally languages in $DTIME(n^{k+1}) \backslash DTIME(n^k)$ should be strictly easier than some non-Tally language in $DTIME(n^{k+1}) \backslash DTIME(n^k)$, but I am not sure if we can formally prove this. $\endgroup$ Dec 14, 2020 at 21:44
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    $\begingroup$ That seems probably wrong in P (or at least widely open). There are many problems that are believed for example to require quadratic time but we do not know if they are equivalent (and tit is a major open problem if they are [as far as I understand fine grained complexity). The classical example would be edit distance and some quadratic 3sum hard problem. $\endgroup$ Dec 18, 2020 at 3:41
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    $\begingroup$ For this question as stated, the answer clearly seems to be "no, it's not necessary". E.g. suppose B is, given n bits, are there an odd number of 1's? This seems to take linear time with or without an oracle for any other problem. Also, I don't understand what role the algorithm P plays here. Assuming calls to the oracle for A are not counted in the time for solving B, why does it matter how A is solved? OP, can you clarify your question? $\endgroup$
    – Neal Young
    May 14, 2021 at 20:19
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    $\begingroup$ I think the answer is no. More specifically, I think one can modify the proof of the Time Hierarchy Thm to build two sets $A,B$ simultaneously such that $A \in \mathsf{DTIME}(f(n)) \backslash \mathsf{DTIME}^B(o(f(n)/\log f(n)))$ and $B \in \mathsf{DTIME}(f(n)) \backslash \mathsf{DTIME}^A(o(f(n)/\log f(n)))$. Might need $f$ to be a little big (maybe $2^n$), but maybe not - maybe one can do this under the same assumptions as the Time Hierarchy Thm. I'd have to write down the details to see, but don't have the time rn. $\endgroup$ Sep 12, 2021 at 3:18

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If problem A is complete for the class, the class is higher than P, and problem B cannot be solved in polynomial time, then yes, there is some polynomial algorithm that makes use of the oracle and solves the problem.

By definition, if a problem A is complete for some class C, then every problem of this class is reducible in polynomial time to this problem. As a result, a polynomial algorithm for a problem B given an oracle P of the (complete for the class) problem A (we assume that the oracle spits out the answer to an instance of A in constant time) is the following:

Input: instance of problem B

  1. Reduce the instance of B to an instance of A (polytime)
  2. Answer the obtained instance of A using P (constant time)

However, it is not always easy to find the reduction from one problem to another in the same class.

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