Computational Complexity

This text offers a comprehensive and accessible treatment of the theory of algorithms and complexity - the elegant body of concepts and methods developed by computer scientists over the past 30 years for studying the performance and limitations of computer algorithms. Among topics covered are: reductions and NP-completeness, cryptography and protocols, randomized algorithms, and approximability of optimization problems, circuit complexity, the "structural" aspects of the P=NP question, parallel computation, the polynomial hierarchy, and many others. Several sophisticated and recent results are presented in a rather simple way, while many more are developed in the form of extensive notes, problems, and hints. The book is surprisingly self-contained, in that it develops all necessary mathematical prerequisites from such diverse fields as computability, logic, number theory, combinatorics and probability.

This new text offers a comprehensive and accessible treatment of the theory of algorithms and complexity - the elegant body of concepts and methods developed by computer scientists over the past 30 years for studying the performance and limitations of computer algorithms. Among topics covered are: reductions and NP-completeness, cryptography and protocols, randomized algorithms, and approximability of optimization problems, circuit complexity, the "structural" aspects of the P=NP question, parallel computation, the polynomial hierarchy, and many others.

Several sophisticated and recent results are presented in a rather simple way, while many more are developed in the form of extensive notes, problems, and hints. The book is surprisingly self-contained, in that it develops all necessary mathematical prerequisites from such diverse field as computability, logic, number theory, combinatorics, and probability.

Features

• First unified introduction to computational complexity.
• Integrates computation, applications, and logic throughout.
• Provides an accessible introduction to logic, including Boolean logic, first-order logic, and second-order logic.
• Includes extensive exercises including historical notes, references, and challeging problems.