COMPSCI 534: Computational Complexity

Department of Computer Science

Duke University

John H. Reif


   Spring Semester, 2015



Instructor:  John H. Reif

         A. Hollis Edens Professor of Computer Science

         D223 LSRC Building

         E-mail: reif AT cs.duke.edu

         Phone: 919-660-6568

Summary Description of Course:

Computational Complexity is the study of bounds on the various metrics (such as time and space) of computations executed on abstract machine models (such as Turing machines, Boolean circuits),, required to solve given problems, as a function of the size of the problem input.

Detailed Description of Course Material: see Schedule

Lectures:

     Lecture Times:                 Tues, Thurs 1:25 PM – 2:40 PM   (See Schedule for details)
     Lecture Location:                        LSRC 243

Reif Office Hours:                        Tues 2:40 PM – 4:40 PM 

 

TA: Tianqi Song

·  Office: 208 North Building

·  Phone: 919-667-7346

·  TA email: stq@cs.duke.edu

·  TA office hours: To be determined

Required Text Books:

[Pap]  Christos Papadimitriou. Computational Complexity. Addison-Wesley Longman, 1994. ISBN-10: 0201530821, ISBN-13: 978-0201530827. Corrections: Errata.

[AB] Sanjeev Arora and Boaz Barak, Computational Complexity: A Modern Approach, Cambridge University Press (May 2009), ISBN: 978-0521424264

[G] Oded Goldreich, Computational Complexity: A Conceptual Perspective, Cambridge University Press, ISBN: 978-0521884730 (April 28, 2008)

Additional Digital Text Books: ([AB] and [G] used by permission)

Surveys on Computational Complexity:

Prerequisites:

There are no formal prerequisites for the course, except mathematical maturity.  However, it would help to have a working knowledge of Turing Machines, NP-Completeness, and Reductions, at the level of an undergraduate algorithms class.

Topics: see above Schedule

Grading:

(Tentative) There will be 4 homeworks (5% each, 20% total), a quiz on reductions (10%), a midterm exam (10%), an end-term Final Exam (25%), and a Final Project  (30%) for the course.  Also attendance and class interaction will provide an additional 5% of the total grade.

Homeworks:  To be prepared using LATEX (preferred) or WORD.

·      Assigned: ??  Due: ??

Homework Rules:

·      Be sure to provide enough details to convince me, but try to keep your answers to at most one or two pages.

·      It is OK to answer a problem by stating it is open, but if so, please convincingly explain the reasons you believe this.

·      It is permitted to collaborate with your classmates, but please list your collaborators with your homework solution.

·      There is no credit given for homework past their due date.

Final Project:

·      The final project is a short (approx. 12 pages) paper over viewing (definition of the problem and terminology, and the details of some part of the proof) a prior result in complexity theory.

·      The topic is of your choice, and the instructor will provide guidance on relevant literature.

·      Novel topics and/or new research may result, but is not necessarily required to still produce an excellent project paper.