So far in this class we have been concerned with problems that are solvable in polynomial time, i.e. the run-time can be bounded by O(nk) for some constant k. We have also seen how dynamic programming can be applied to certain problems to reduce a brute force exponential solution to polynomial time. However there is another interesting class of problems that to this point are not solvable in polynomial time, i.e. we can do no better than brute force. This class of problems is intuitively known as NP-hard. Furthermore, in this class there are certain problems that are the “hardest” problems in the class which are known as NP-complete. We will only discuss an intuitive understanding of these problems as the formalism is beyond the scope of this course.
Computability
Often we assume that all (well-posed) problems are computable, even if not efficiently. However in 1936 Alan Turing proved a problem that is uncomputable known as the Halting Problem.
Halting Problem
Given a description of an algorithm and an initial input, determine whether or not the program halts when executed on the input.
Proof
Let halt(a, i) be an algorithm that decides whether or not program a halts on input i. Then construct the following function:
trouble(s)
if halt(s,s) = false
return true
else
infinite loop
Let t be the representation of trouble() and evaluate trouble(t), i.e. run trouble on itself. Since trouble() is a function, it must either halt or not given any input. Assume trouble(t) halts
Since it halts, it must have entered the if branch ⇒ halt(t, t) = false. But that occurs if trouble(t) does not halt which contradicts the assumption.
Therefore the assumption must be incorrect so trouble(t) must run forever.
Since it does not halt, it must have entered the else branch ⇒ halt(t. t) = true. But that occurs if trouble(t) halts which contradicts the assumption.
Thus in either case we reach a contradiction which means that halt() CANNOT EXIST, i.e. there is no algorithm that can determine whether or not any algorithm will halt or not on a given input. Note this does not mean that there cannot be algorithms that can detect infinite loops, only that a general one that works for all algorithms and inputs is impossible.
NP Completeness
Complexity theory is a field that investigates the run-time of decision problems, i.e. problems that return true/false as the answer. While many of the problems we have looked at are optimization problems (e.g. minimum spanning trees, shortest paths, maximal flow, etc.), optimization problems can be recast as decision problems by simply asking “is the value of the solution < k for some constant k?” Foregoing problems that are uncomputable, we would like to classify computable problems into “tractable” (i.e. efficiently solvable) and “intractable” (i.e. inefficiently solvable).
Set P
We will formalize this notion by defining a set P of problems as ones that can be solved in polynomial time. By this we mean that the run-time of the algorithms is upper-bounded by O(nk) for a constant k (or at least independent of n) even if k is very large. In this class we have only analyzed problems ∈ P. If a problem is in P we say it is tractable by which we mean has an efficient algorithm to solve it.
Set NP
The set of problems that can be verified in polynomial time, i.e. given a solution we can check that it is correct in polynomial time, is the class NP (non-deterministic polynomial time problems). Clearly P ⊆ NP (since if we can solve it in polynomial time we can certainly verify a given solution in polynomial time). For many problems in this class (known as NP-hard problems), however, no efficient solutions have been found so far. It is postulated that for some of them, no polynomial time solution exists and thus they are ∉ P. If this can be proven, it would mean that P ≠ NP and there exist problems that we can do no better than to brute force.
NP Completeness, P = NP
Within NP-hard class, we define a subset of problems that are the “hardest” ones which are known as NP-complete problems. These are the problems to which all other problems in NP can be reduced (i.e. recast into) in polynomial time. Thus if we can find a solution to ONE NP-complete problem, we can solve ALL NP-complete problems (which means all NP problems). If this solution is polynomial, then we will have proven that P = NP, i.e. all problems (in NP) have efficient solutions.
The question of whether or not P = NP is one of the fundamental questions in CS and is the basis of much graduate level research. The “proof” would simply consist of finding ONE polynomial time solution to ANY NP-complete problem.
First NP-complete Problem
While the definitions for the categories of problems is easily understood, the remaining question is
Are there any NP-complete problems?
The answer (suprisingly) is YES. One problem proven to be NP-complete is known as circuit satisfiability.
Problem
Given a circuit consisting of Boolean AND, OR, and NOT two input logic gates (NOT only has a single input). A circuit is then simply a set of gates with a particular interconnectivity of outputs of certain gates to inputs of subsequent ones (without creating any cycles). Any wire that does not originate from the output of a gate is known as a circuit input and any wire that does not terminate at the input of a gate is known as a circuit output. We will limit the number of outputs to 1, i.e. the entire circuit returns a decision value of 0/1.
The circuit is said to be satisfiable if there is an assignment of the inputs that produces a 1 at the output (i.e. outputs TRUE). If we assume the size of the circuit n is the number of gates in the circuit plus the number of wires, then the problem of determining a set of input values that satisfies the circuit can be shown to be NP-complete.
Sketch of Proof
Clearly we see that the problem is in NP since given a particular set of inputs we can compute the result of the circuit in polynomial time. The difficulty is showing that ANY problem in NP can be represented as a circuit satisfiability problem. This is shown by considering any computable algorithm can be represented by a logical circuit that can be encoded into a state machine on a general purpose computer. The operation of the algorithm simply transitions between states in the computer. At some point, one of the bits in the computer will represent the output of the algorithm and thus any algorithm can be reduced to a circuit satisfiability problem (in polynomial time).
Problems in P and NP
Many seemingly similar problems often are in different classes. One version has a polynomial time solution and is thus in P, while only a minor modification to the description makes the variant NP-complete. For example
P NP 2-CNF 3-CNF Shortest simple path Longest simple path Euler tour (touch each edge once) Hamiltonian tour (touch each vertex once)
