Product Description
by Richard J. Lipton (Author)
? DoesP=NP. In just ?ve symbols Dick Karp -in 1972-captured one of the deepest and most important questions of all time. When he ?rst wrote his famous paper, I think it's fair to say he did not know the depth and importance of his question. Now over three decades later, we know P=NP is central to our understanding of compu- tion, it is a very hard problem, and its resolution will have potentially tremendous consequences. This book is a collection of some of the most popular posts from my blog-- Godel ] Lost Letter andP=NP--which I started in early 2009. The main thrust of the blog, especially when I started, was to explore various aspects of computational complexity around the famousP=NP question. As I published posts I branched out and covered additional material, sometimes a timely event, sometimes a fun idea, sometimes a new result, and sometimes an old result. I have always tried to make the posts readable by a wide audience, and I believe I have succeeded in doing this.
Back Jacket
The P=NP question is one of the great problems of science, which has intrigued computer scientists and mathematicians for decades. Despite the abundant research in theoretical computer science regarding the P=NP question, it has not been solved.
The P=NP Question and Gödel's Lost Letter covers historical developments (including the Gödel's Lost letter), the importance of P=NP and the future of P=NP. This guide is also based on a new blog by the author, located at http: //rjlipton.wordpress.com. Jin-Yi Cai, a professor in computer science at the University of Wisconsin remarks 'I think it is the single most interesting web blog I have seen on related topics. He has a great insight and wit and beautiful way to see things and explain them.' Richard DeMillo, a professor in computer science at Georgia Tech remarks, 'This is a much needed treatment of great open problem computing.'
The P=NP Question and Gödel's Lost Letter is designed for advanced level studentsand researchers in computer science, and mathematics as a secondary text and reference book. Computer programmers, software developers and IT professionals working in the related industry of computer science theory, will also find this guide a valuable asset.
Author Biography
Richard Lipton is the Storey Professor of Computer Science at Georgia Institute of Technology. Previously he held faculty positions at Yale University, the University of California at Berkeley, and Princeton University. His research is focused primarily, but not exclusively, on theory of computation. He has made seminal contributions to many areas of computing from software engineering and program testing, to computer security and cryptography, to DNA and molecular computation, and to other areas of computer science. He is a member of The National Academy of Engineering, an ACM Fellow, and a Guggenheim fellow.
