A solution to P vs NP could unlock countless computational problems—or keep them forever out of reach. 1. On Monday, July 19, 2021, in the middle of another strange pandemic summer, a leading computer ...

Has the biggest question in computer science been solved? On 6 August, Vinay Deolalikar, a mathematician at Hewlett-Packard Labs in Palo Alto, California, sent out draft copies of a paper titled ...

A diagram showing the relevant complexity classes in the P vs NP problem. “P” problems are solvable in polynomial time; “NP” problems might be solvable in polynomial time, and are checkable in ...

When the Clay Mathematics Institute put individual $1-million prize bounties on seven unsolved mathematical problems, they may have undervalued one entry—by a lot. If mathematicians were to resolve, ...

On August 6, 2010, a computer scientist named Vinay Deolalikar published a paper with a name as concise as it was audacious: “P ≠ NP.” If Deolalikar was right, he had cut one of mathematics’ most ...

Last summer, three researchers took a small step toward answering one of the most important questions in theoretical computer science. To paraphrase Avi Wigderson of the Institute for Advanced Study, ...

Thousands of notoriously difficult problems in computer science are actually the same problem in disguise If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by ...

What’s easy for a computer to do, and what’s almost impossible? Those questions form the core of computational complexity. We present a map of the landscape. How fundamentally difficult is a problem?

IF YOU have ever struggled to complete classic Nintendo games, don’t feel bad – they are officially difficult. An analysis of the computational complexity of video games, including those in the Mario ...