Questions tagged [time-complexity]

Time complexity of decision problems or relations among time-bounded complexity classes. (Use the [analysis-of-algorithms] tag for the time taken by particular algorithms.)

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One Stack, Two Queues

background Several years ago, when I was an undergraduate, we were given a homework on amortized analysis. I was unable to solve one of the problems. I had asked it in comp.theory, but no ...
Sadeq Dousti's user avatar
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46 votes
8 answers
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Complexity of Finding the Eigendecomposition of a Matrix

My question is simple: What is the worst-case running time of the best known algorithm for computing an eigendecomposition of an $n \times n$ matrix? Does eigendecomposition reduce to matrix ...
Lev Reyzin's user avatar
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44 votes
7 answers
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Using lambda calculus to derive time complexity?

Are there any benefits to calculating the time complexity of an algorithm using lambda calculus? Or is there another system designed for this purpose? Any references would be appreciated.
Shane's user avatar
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26 votes
6 answers
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Advanced techniques for determining complexity lower bounds

Some of you may have been following this question, which was closed due to not being research level. So, I'm extracting the part of the question which is at a research level. Beyond the "simpler" ...
Joey Eremondi's user avatar
24 votes
12 answers
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What are some algorithms where space complexity tends to be the limiting factor in practice?

Time complexity can't be any lower than space complexity (at least one operation is required to use a unit of memory), so what are some algorithms where space actually tends to be the limiting factor? ...
Adam Tolnay's user avatar
23 votes
2 answers
1k views

To what extent can an algorithm predict the time complexity an arbitrary input program?

The Halting problem states that it is impossible to write a program that can determine if another program halts, for all possible input programs. I can, however, certainly write a program that can ...
Hooked's user avatar
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23 votes
3 answers
808 views

Adding integers represented by their factorization is as hard as factoring? Reference request

I'm looking for a reference for the following result: Adding two integers in the factored representation is as hard as factoring two integers in the usual binary representation. (I'm pretty sure ...
Joshua Grochow's user avatar
23 votes
1 answer
2k views

Can all unambiguous grammars be parsed in linear time?

When tinkering with noncanonical LR parsing, I thought up a parsing method (with infinitely sized tables, which makes it somewhat unpractical) capable of parsing exactly the unambiguous grammars in $O(...
Alex ten Brink's user avatar
22 votes
1 answer
2k views

Is there a proof that addition is faster than multiplication?

The best upper bound known on the time complexity of multiplication is Martin Fürer's bound $n\log n2^{O(\log^* n)}$, which is more than linear time complexity of addition. Do we have a proof that ...
Hooman's user avatar
  • 331
22 votes
2 answers
883 views

Multiplicative version of 3-SUM

What is known about the time complexity of the following problem, which we call 3-MUL? Given a set $S$ of $n$ integers, are there elements $a,b,c\in S$ such that $ab=c$? This problem is similar to ...
Markus Jalsenius's user avatar
22 votes
1 answer
1k views

Binary multiplication and parity convolution

This question is about the relationship between normal multiplication of binary numbers and polynomial multiplication mod 2. To make the question concrete, I would ideally like to know if there is a ...
Simd's user avatar
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21 votes
3 answers
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How much time to recognize palindromes in logarithmic space?

It is well-known that palindromes can be recognized in linear time on $2$-tape Turing machines, but not on single-tape Turing machines (in which case the time needed is quadratic). The linear-time ...
Bruno's user avatar
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21 votes
5 answers
838 views

What notable automaton models have polynomially-decidable containment?

I'm trying to solve a particular problem, and I thought I might be able to solve it using automata theory. I'm wondering, what models of automata have containment decidable in polynomial time? i.e. if ...
Joey Eremondi's user avatar
19 votes
11 answers
2k views

Are there any problems whose best known algorithm has run time $O\left(\frac{f(n)}{\log n}\right)$

I've never seen an algorithm with a log in the denominator before, and I'm wondering if there are any actually useful algorithms with this form? I understand lots of things that might cause a log ...
Mike Izbicki's user avatar
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19 votes
5 answers
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Why do relational databases work at all, given the theoretical exponential complexity of answer finding (in the size of the query)?

It seems to be known that to find an answer to a query $Q$ over a relational database $D$, one needs time $|D|^{|Q|}$, and one cannot get rid of the exponent $|Q|$. As $D$ can be very large, we wonder ...
imz -- Ivan Zakharyaschev's user avatar
19 votes
1 answer
1k views

Has parameterized complexity led to better algorithms?

I know that for the vertex cover problem, if we know that the parameter $k$ (which is the number of vertices in the solution) is small, then we can expect to solve it feasibly in practice. So far, ...
Felipe's user avatar
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19 votes
1 answer
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Time complexity with irrational exponent?

Is there any natural problem in P for which the best known running time bound is of the form $O(n^\alpha)$, where $\alpha$ is an irrational constant?
Andras Farago's user avatar
19 votes
4 answers
3k views

What is the "right" definition of upper and lower bounds?

Let $f(n)$ be the worst case running time of a problem on input of size $n$. Let us make the problem a bit weird by fixing $f(n) = n^2$ for $n=2k$ but $f(n) = n$ for $n=2k+1$. So, what is the lower ...
Wei Yu's user avatar
  • 331
19 votes
2 answers
2k views

Runtime of Grover's algorithm

What is the time complexity (not query complexity) of Grover's algorithm? It seems clear to me that it is $\Omega(\log(N) \sqrt{N})$ since there are $\Omega(\sqrt{N})$ iterations and each iteration ...
Dan Stahlke's user avatar
19 votes
2 answers
2k views

Is there a non-deterministic linear time algorithm for CNF-SAT?

The decision problem CNF-SAT can be described as follows: Input: A boolean formula $\phi$ in conjunctive normal form. Question: Does there exist a variable assignment that satisfies $\phi$? I'm ...
Michael Wehar's user avatar
18 votes
3 answers
1k views

Trade off between time and query complexity

Working directly with time complexity or circuit lower bounds is scary. Hence, we develop tools like query complexity (or decision-tree complexity) to get a handle on lower bounds. Since each query ...
Artem Kaznatcheev's user avatar
18 votes
2 answers
7k views

Complexity of computing the discrete Fourier transform?

What is the complexity (on the standard integer RAM) of computing the standard discrete Fourier transform of a vector of $n$ integers? The classical algorithm for fast Fourier transforms, ...
Jeffε's user avatar
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18 votes
2 answers
2k views

"Almost sorting" integers in linear time

I am interested in sorting an array of positive integer values $L = v_1, \ldots, v_n$ in linear time (in the RAM model with uniform cost measure, i.e., integers can have up to logarithmic size but ...
a3nm's user avatar
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17 votes
2 answers
436 views

similar matrices

Given two $n \times n$ matrices $A$ and $B$, the problem of deciding if there exist a permutation matrix $P$ such that $B = P^{-1}AP$ is equivalent to GI(Graph ...
DurgaDatta's user avatar
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16 votes
2 answers
1k views

Is there a SETH (Strong Exponential Time Hypothesis) for CSP (Constraint Satisfaction Problem)?

The Constraint Satisfaction Problem I mentioned is similar to CNF-SAT: A variable can take values from some finite domain $D$ where $|D| = d$. A literal of variable $x$ is an expression of the form $x\...
Junqiang Peng's user avatar
16 votes
1 answer
531 views

Can you decide equivalence for monotone Boolean expressions that do not contain negation in PTIME?

Is the following problem in PTIME, or coNP-hard: Given two Boolean expressions $e_1$ and $e_2$ in variables $x_1,\dots,x_n$, without negation (ie, the expressions are entirely built up via $\wedge$ ...
danielzinn's user avatar
16 votes
2 answers
6k views

What is the fastest algorithm to compute rank of a rectangular matrix?

Given an $m \times n$ matrix (assuming $m \ge n$), what is the fastest algorithm to compute its rank and basis of the columns? I am aware it can be solved through linear matroid intersection, which ...
Ho Yee Cheung's user avatar
16 votes
0 answers
216 views

What is the background in algebraic geometry and representation theory needed for geometric complexity theory? [duplicate]

I'm a mathematics student in my junior year and I'm interested in computational complexity and specially geometric complexity theory. I'm going to learn algebraic geometry and representation theory ...
Fawzy Hegab's user avatar
15 votes
4 answers
3k views

Counting the number of vertex covers: when is it hard?

Consider the #P-complete problem of counting the number of vertex covers of a given graph $G = (V, E)$. I'd like to know if there is any result showing how the hardness of such problem varies with ...
Giorgio Camerani's user avatar
15 votes
3 answers
907 views

Can we compute $n$ from the bits of $3^n$ in $O(n)$ time?

I'm seeking an efficient algorithm for the problem: Input: The positive integer $3^n$ (stored as bits) for some integer $n \geq 0$. Output: The number $n$. Question: Can we compute $n$ from the bits ...
Rebecca J. Stones's user avatar
15 votes
3 answers
3k views

Linear time in-place riffle shuffle algorithm

Is there a linear time in-place riffle shuffle algorithm? This is the algorithm that some especially dextrous hands are capable of performing: evenly dividing an even-sized input array, and then ...
Johny's user avatar
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15 votes
1 answer
385 views

Does $∩_{ε>0} \mathrm{DTIME}(O(n^{2+ε})) = \mathrm{DTIME}(n^{2+o(1)})$?

I expect the answer is no, but I could not actually construct a counterexample. The difference is that in $∩_{ε>0} \mathrm{DTIME}(O(n^{2+ε}))$, we might not be able to pick an $O(n^{2+ε})$ ...
Dmytro Taranovsky's user avatar
15 votes
0 answers
486 views

An algebra of complexity classes

A key feature of unrelativized computation is its composability out of smaller fragments, and to partially capture the composability, I came up with an algebra of fine-grained complexity classes. For ...
Dmytro Taranovsky's user avatar
14 votes
1 answer
797 views

Is Quasi-polynomial time in PSPACE?

I had done some search on this but I was not able to find an answer either way. Huck answered it fully. Thanks :)
Tayfun Pay's user avatar
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14 votes
3 answers
2k views

Lower Bounds for Data Structures

Are results known which rule out the existence of "too-good-to-be-true" data structures? For example: can one add $Split$ and $Join$ functionality to an order maintenance data structure (see Dietz ...
Shaun Harker's user avatar
14 votes
3 answers
3k views

What is a natural problem in theory of computation?

In Stephen Cook's paper on the P vs NP problem,[1] he states the following [2]: Feasibility Thesis: A natural problem has a feasible algorithm iff it has a polynomial-time algorithm. My question ...
Curious Yogurt's user avatar
14 votes
2 answers
1k views

Gaussian Elimination in terms of Group Action

Gaussian elimination makes determinant of a matrix polynomial-time computable. The reduction of complexity in computing the determinant, which is otherwise sum of exponential terms, is due to ...
DurgaDatta's user avatar
  • 1,281
14 votes
1 answer
1k views

Distinguishing between two coins

It is well known that the complexity of distinguishing an $\epsilon$ biased coin from a fair one is $\theta(\epsilon^{-2})$. Are there results for distinguishing a $p$ coin from a $p+\epsilon$ coin? I ...
elexhobby's user avatar
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14 votes
1 answer
8k views

The computational complexity of matrix multiplication

I am looking for information about the computational complexity of matrix multiplication of rectangular matrices. Wikipedia states that the complexity of multiplying $A \in \mathbb{R}^{m \times n}$ by ...
inquirer's user avatar
  • 149
14 votes
1 answer
1k views

Are there languages decidable in linear time by RAM machines that have superlinear time complexity lower bounds for Multitape Turing machines?

Question: Are there languages decidable in linear time by RAM machines that have superlinear time complexity lower bounds for Multitape Turing machines? Background: I recently stumbled upon the ...
Michael Wehar's user avatar
14 votes
1 answer
987 views

Equivalent definitions of time constructibility

We say that a function $f:\mathbb{N}\rightarrow\mathbb{N}$ is time-constructible, if there exists a deterministic multi-tape Turing machine $M$ that on all inputs of length $n$ makes at most $f(n)$ ...
David G's user avatar
  • 532
13 votes
6 answers
617 views

Any algorithmic problem has a time complexity dominated by counting?

What I refer to as counting is the problem that consists in finding the number of solutions to a function. More precisely, given a function $f:N\to \{0,1\}$ (not necessarily black-box), approximate $\#...
lamontap's user avatar
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13 votes
3 answers
5k views

Examples of problems where exponential algorithms run faster than polynomial algorithms for practical sizes?

Do you know of any problems (preferably at least somewhat well known), where, for a practical problem size, an exponential algorithm runs much faster than a best-known polynomial time counterpart. ...
Ozzah's user avatar
  • 313
13 votes
2 answers
889 views

Complexity of Membership-Testing for finite abelian groups

Consider the following abelian-subgroup membership-testing problem. Inputs: A finite abelian group $G=\mathbb{Z}_{d_1}\times\mathbb{Z}_{d_1}\ldots\times\mathbb{Z}_{d_m}$ with arbitrary-...
13 votes
2 answers
370 views

General collection with the current state of complexity bounds of well-known unsolved problems?

Most classical computer science problems are still open concerning the exact asymptotic algorithmic worst-case complexity required to solve them. Is there any online collaborative wiki (or other ...
FxMySz's user avatar
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13 votes
2 answers
2k views

Reversing a list using two queues

This question is inspired by an existing question about whether a stack can be simulated using two queues in amortized $O(1)$ time per stack operation. The answer seems to be unknown. Here is a more ...
mjqxxxx's user avatar
  • 1,458
13 votes
1 answer
602 views

NEXPTIME-completeness with more time for reductions

One thing that surprised me when learning about complexity theory is that for a complexity class C, we tend to define C-complete using polynomial time reductions, even when C is a very large ...
Kurt Mueller's user avatar
13 votes
2 answers
265 views

Is the exponent in the rectangular matrix multiplication convex?

My question is regarding the paper "Improved Rectangular Matrix Multiplication using Powers of the Coppersmith-Winograd Tensor". In the paper, the authors show an algorithm for multiplying a ...
user2316602's user avatar
13 votes
2 answers
2k views

What's the most efficient algorithm for Divisibility?

What is the most efficient (in time complexity) algorithm known nowadays for the Divisibity Decision Problem: given two integers, say $a$ and $b$, does $a$ divide $b$? Let it be clear that what I ask ...
Leandro Zatesko's user avatar
13 votes
0 answers
533 views

Lock-free, constant update-time concurrent tree data-structures?

I've been reading a bit of the literature lately, and have found some rather interesting data-structures. I have researched various different methods of getting update times down to $\mathcal{O}(1)$ ...
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