The Golden Ticket

P, NP, and the Search for the Impossible

Lance Fortnow

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN:
  9780691175782
  9780691156491
• eBook ISBN:
  9781400846610
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Programming Algorithms
• Index: Computer Science

The computer science problem whose solution could transform life as we know it

The P-NP problem is the most important open problem in computer science, if not all of mathematics. Simply stated, it asks whether every problem whose solution can be quickly checked by computer can also be quickly solved by computer. The Golden Ticket provides a nontechnical introduction to P-NP, its rich history, and its algorithmic implications for everything we do with computers and beyond. Lance Fortnow traces the history and development of P-NP, giving examples from a variety of disciplines, including economics, physics, and biology. He explores problems that capture the full difficulty of the P-NP dilemma, from discovering the shortest route through all the rides at Disney World to finding large groups of friends on Facebook. The Golden Ticket explores what we truly can and cannot achieve computationally, describing the benefits and unexpected challenges of this compelling problem.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Chapter 1: The Golden Ticket
• Chapter 2: The Beautiful World
• Chapter 3: P and NP
• Chapter 4: The Hardest Problems in NP
• Chapter 5: The Prehistory of P versus NP
• Chapter 6: Dealing with Hardness
• Chapter 7: Proving P ≠ NP
• Chapter 8: Secrets
• Chapter 9: Quantum
• Chapter 10: The Future
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter Notes and Sources
• Index