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The golden ticket : P, NP, and the search for the impossible / Lance Fortnow.

by Fortnow, Lance, 1963-

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Princeton : Princeton University Press, c2013.

NP-complete problems.

Computer algorithms.

9780691175782 (pbk.)

9780691156491 (hardback) :

0691156492 (hardback)

x, 176 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

The golden ticket -- The beautiful world -- P and NP -- The hardest problems in NP -- The prehistory of P versus NP -- Dealing with hardness -- Proving P ` NP -- Secrets -- Quantum -- The future.

"The P-NP problem is the most important open problem in computer science, if not all of mathematics. Simply stated, it asks whether every problem whose solution can be quickly checked by computer can also be solved by computer. This book provides a nontechnical introduction to P-NP, its rich history, and its algorithmic implications for everything we do with computers and beyond. In this book, the author traces how the problem arose during the Cold War on both sides of the Iron Curtain, and gives examples of the problem from a variety of disciplines, including economics, physics, and biology. He explores problems that capture the full difficulty of the P-NP dilemma, from discovering the shortest route through all the rides at Disney World to finding large groups of friends on Facebook. But difficulty also has its advantages. Hard problems allow us to safely conduct electronic commerce and maintain privacy in our online lives. This book explores what we truly can and cannot achieve computationally, describing the benefits and unexpected challenges of the P-NP problem." -- From book jacket.

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