# All Questions

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### Why would one ever use an Octree over a KD-tree?

I have some experience in scientific computing, and have extensively used kd-trees for BSP (binary space partitioning) applications. I have recently become rather more familiar with octrees, a similar ...
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### Is there a logic without induction that captures much of P?

The Immerman-Vardi theorem states that PTIME (or P) is precisely the class of languages that can be described by a sentence of First-Order Logic together with a fixed-point operator, over the class of ...
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### Prerequisite for learning GCT

It seems that Geometric Complexity Theory requires much knowledge of pure maths such as algebraic geometry, representation theory. While I am a CS student and do NOT have classes of very abstract ...
9k views

### Is optimally solving the n×n×n Rubik's Cube NP-hard?

Consider the obvious $n\times n\times n$ generalization of the Rubik's Cube. Is it NP-hard to compute the shortest sequence of moves that solves a given scrambled cube, or is there a polynomial-time ...
4k views

### Sum-of-square-roots-hard problems?

The sum of square roots problem asks, given two sequences $a_1, a_2, \dots, a_n$ and $b_1, b_2, \dots, b_n$ of positive integers, whether the sum $\sum_i \sqrt{a_i}$ less than, equal to, or greater ...
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### Is there a backup/replacement for the Complexity Zoo?

This is a non-technical question, but certainly relevant for the TCS community. If considered inappropriate, feel free to close. The Complexity Zoo webpage (http://qwiki.stanford.edu/index.php/...
6k views

### Han's $O(n \log\log n)$ time, linear space, integer sorting algorithm

Is anyone familiar with Yijie Han's $O(n \log\log n)$, linear space, integer sorting algorithm? This result appears in a fairly short paper (Deterministic sorting in $O(n \log\log n)$ time and linear ...
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### Sorting algorithm, such that each element is compared $O(\log n)$ times, and doesn't depend on a sorting network

Are there any known comparison sorting algorithms that do not reduce to sorting networks, such that each element is compared $O(\log n)$ times? As far as I know, the only way to sort with $O(\log n)$ ...
25k views

### How practical is Automata Theory?

There is always a way for application in topics related to theoretical computer science. But textbooks and undergraduate courses usually don't explain the reason that automata theory is an important ...
4k views

### Conjectures implying Four Color Theorem

Four Color Theorem (4CT) states that every planar graph is four colorable. There are two proofs given by [Appel,Haken 1976] and [Robertson,Sanders,Seymour,Thomas 1997]. Both these proofs are computer-...
3k views

### Inspirational talk for final year high school pupils

I am often asked by my department to give talks to final year high school pupils about the more mathematical elements of computer science. I do my best to pick topics from TCS which might inspire ...
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### Why go to theoretical computer science/research?

I'm currently starting on the university [computer science] and there we have lot of opportunities to begin with researching. Before finding this website, I had no intention to go on this way [I ...
8k views

### How do I get started in theoretical CS ?

I'm a freshmen studying computer science and I already know that I want to go into academia with focus of theoretical comp sci. I already read some of papers referenced in this question and this ...
4k views

### Optimal greedy algorithms for NP-hard problems

Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. One of the first algorithmic paradigms taught in introductory algorithms course is the greedy approach. Greedy approach results in simple and intuitive ...
7k views

### A probabilistic set with no false positives?

So, Bloom filters are pretty cool -- they are sets that support membership checking with no false negatives, but a small chance of a false positive. Recently though, I've been wanting a "Bloom filter" ...
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### Semantic vs. Syntactic Complexity Classes

In his "Computational Complexity" book, Papadimitriou writes: RP is in some sense a new and unusual kind of complexity class. Not any polynomially bounded nondeterministic Turing machine can be the ...
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### Examples where the uniqueness of the solution makes it easier to find

The complexity class $\mathsf{UP}$ consists of those $\mathsf{NP}$-problems that can be decided by a polynomial time nondeterministic Turing machine which has at most one accepting computational path. ...
6k views

### P and NP classes explanation through lambda-calculus

In the introduction and explanation P and NP complexity classes often given through Turing machine. One of the model of computation is the lambda-calculus. I understand, that all of models of ...
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### Formal notion for energy complexity of computational problems

Computational complexity includes the study of time or space complexity of computational problems. From the the perspective of mobile computing, energy is very valuable computational resource. So, Is ...
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### Axioms necessary for theoretical computer science

This question is inspired by a similar question about applied mathematics on mathoverflow, and that nagging thought that important questions of TCS such as P vs. NP might be independent of ZFC (or ...
3k views

### Mulmuley's GCT program

It is sometimes claimed that Ketan Mulmuley's Geometric Complexity Theory is the only plausible program for settling the open questions of complexity theory like P vs. NP question. There has been ...
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### Everyday encounters with NP-complete problems

Mark Dominus collected a few examples of polynomial-time reductions from various NP-hard problems to “regular expression” matching. Envisioning polynomial-time verifications isn't an enormous leap. ...
### Geometric problems that are NP-complete in $R^3$ but tractable in $R^2$?
A number of geometric problems are easy when considered in $R^1$, but are NP-complete in $R^d$ for $d\geq2$ (including one of my favourite problems, unit disk cover). Does anyone know of a problem ...