Bachelor
2021/2022
Theory of Computation
Category 'Best Course for Broadening Horizons and Diversity of Knowledge and Skills'
Type:
Elective course (Applied Mathematics and Information Science)
Area of studies:
Applied Mathematics and Information Science
Delivered by:
Big Data and Information Retrieval School
Where:
Faculty of Computer Science
When:
3 year, 1, 2 module
Mode of studies:
offline
Open to:
students of one campus
Language:
English
ECTS credits:
5
Contact hours:
60
Course Syllabus
Abstract
This course teaches a mathematical theory that helps to invent better algorithms. With “better” we mean that the algorithms use fewer resources such as time or memory. We also consider parallel computation, distributed systems and learning problems. In these settings we might also optimize other types of resources. For example, in distributed systems we might want to minimize the amount of communication. We focuss on worst case guarantees. A large part of our time is devoted to the study of what is not possible. In other words, we study fundamental barriers for the existence of programs that use fewer resources than a given bound.
Learning Objectives
- understand the concepts of the complexity classes P, NP, coNP, #P, EXP, NEXP, L, NL, PSPACE, EXPSPACE, BPP, RP
- be able to critically analyse resources used by a program (and optimize them at a high level)
- be able to recognize intractable problems and categorize their difficulty
- be able to recognize intractable problems and categorize their difficulty
- have deeper understanding and trained problem solving skills of known materials in: algebra, probability theory, discrete math, algorithms
Expected Learning Outcomes
- To know algorithms for prime testing and cryptography
- To know circuit complexity, the classes NC_k and AC_k, and P-completeness
- To know problems that are complete for NP and PSPACE
- To know several classes in communication complexity
- To know the complexity classes P, NP, coNP, #P, EXP, NEXP, L, NL, PSPACE, EXPSPACE, BPP, RP; relations among these classes (including separations through the hierarchy theorems); famous open problems
Course Contents
- Complexity classes P and NP, reductions, NP-completeness and hierarchy theorems
- L, NL, PSPACE, EXPSPACE, and PSPACE-completeness of some games
- Oracle computations and oracles the P vs NP problem relative to specific oracles
- Randomized computation and prime testing
- Communication complexity, property testing, PCP-theorems and inapproximability of NP-hard problems
- Cryptography
- Circuit complexity and parallel algorithms
Bibliography
Recommended Core Bibliography
- Arora, S., & Barak, B. (2009). Computational Complexity : A Modern Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge eText. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=304712
Recommended Additional Bibliography
- Du, D., & Ko, K.-I. (2014). Theory of Computational Complexity (Vol. Second edition). Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=784130
- Katz, J., & Lindell, Y. (2014). Introduction to Modern Cryptography (Vol. Second edition). Boca Raton, FL: Chapman and Hall/CRC. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=nlebk&AN=1766746
- Roughgarden, T. (2015). Communication Complexity (for Algorithm Designers). Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsarx&AN=edsarx.1509.06257