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P ≠ NP

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91–100 of 233 posts

Re: P ≠ NP

#91
post #37

The paper's origin was that the author mailed a copy for review to some very high-level folks in the field (Cook, Mazirani, Sipser, etc). Here's the mail: Date: Fri, 6 Aug 2010 21:28:39 +0000 Subject: Proof announcement: P is not equal to NP Dear Fellow Researchers, I am pleased to announce a proof that P is not equal to NP, which is attached in 10pt and 12pt fonts. The proof required the piecing together of principl…

10 and 12pt fonts - in Comic Sans

Re: P ≠ NP

#92
post #52

At least for this, we should have a reddit like system for peer reviewing, so that comments from all reviewers can be seen by everyone.

This is actually not a bad idea, and some scientific groups are pressuring to move to this model. See Yann LeCun's proposal ( http://www.lecun.com/ex/pamphlets/publishing-models.html ) for an example. ICML almost does this. The review is done privately (due to some well-discussed elsewhere issues with double anonymity), but there's a public discussion site for all papers http://mldiscuss.appspot.com/ . And people do use it, and for some papers you will find important information there.

Re: P ≠ NP

#93
post #23

Anyone got a link to any proper discussion?

Yeah, I'd be curious to see what people who are still working in the field have to say. My red flags went up as soon as I read "statistical" in the abstract, since that could easily imply the common problem of assuming the existence of a secure PRNG. However, I haven't read the entire paper in depth (and likely won't have time to anytime soon), so I don't really know if that common trap was fallen into.

Statistical mechanics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_mechanics

Re: P ≠ NP

#94
post #68
post #37

The paper's origin was that the author mailed a copy for review to some very high-level folks in the field (Cook, Mazirani, Sipser, etc). Here's the mail: Date: Fri, 6 Aug 2010 21:28:39 +0000 Subject: Proof announcement: P is not equal to NP Dear Fellow Researchers, I am pleased to announce a proof that P is not equal to NP, which is attached in 10pt and 12pt fonts. The proof required the piecing together of principl…

Somewhere, deep in a dark corner of my heart, I hope and pray that this paper is correct, just so we can keep and revere the immortal words "I am pleased to announce a proof that P is not equal to NP, which is attached in 10pt and 12pt fonts ."

It does feel a little intentional on the part of the author to give off a "all in a days work" type attitude.

Re: P ≠ NP

#96
post #88
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Somewhere, deep in a dark corner of my heart, I hope and pray that this paper is correct, just so we can keep and revere the immortal words "I am pleased to announce a proof that P is not equal to NP, which is attached in 10pt and 12pt fonts ."

I'm not academic - can you explain why he mentioned the font sizes? Why are they relevant?

[deleted]

Re: P ≠ NP

#97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hear this statement frequently when P = NP is discussed, but as someone not involved in computer science I have a hard time understanding it. Could you explain what some of those consequences be? Does P = NP really need to be proved to achieve those practical consequences? Can't it just be assumed to be true and then see what the result is?

If P = NP were proved to be true, it would tell us that there are solutions to a certain class of problems. Assuming it's true doesn't give us those solutions. Wikipedia should answer most of your questions regarding the consequences: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P_%3D_NP#Consequences_of_proof

Not true. A polynomial time algorithm for NP complete programs is known (if P=NP that is). You just need to prove P=NP to prove that it is polynomial time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P_versus_NP_problem#Polynomial-...

Re: P ≠ NP

#98
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[deleted]

A proof of P = NP would have huge practical consequences. A proof that P != NP "only" represents a huge advance in the theory of computation.

A proof that P != NP also represents the death of an era in which CS could look upon a single problem as motivation in hundreds of different directions.

Re: P ≠ NP

#99
post #68
post #37

The paper's origin was that the author mailed a copy for review to some very high-level folks in the field (Cook, Mazirani, Sipser, etc). Here's the mail: Date: Fri, 6 Aug 2010 21:28:39 +0000 Subject: Proof announcement: P is not equal to NP Dear Fellow Researchers, I am pleased to announce a proof that P is not equal to NP, which is attached in 10pt and 12pt fonts. The proof required the piecing together of principl…

Somewhere, deep in a dark corner of my heart, I hope and pray that this paper is correct, just so we can keep and revere the immortal words "I am pleased to announce a proof that P is not equal to NP, which is attached in 10pt and 12pt fonts ."

Happy to see it in my collegiate font of choice, Book Antiqua.

Re: P ≠ NP

#100
Very interesting approach! How cool if this is the real deal. The last 30 years has seen a lot of theoretical work on computation as a physical process. If the greatest conjecture in CS is proved using tools from physics it really brings together math, physics, and CS.

Edit: As someone else pointed out a few minutes ago http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Vinay_Deolalikar/ confirmations began arriving today. How soon before Vinay has a Wikipedia entry? For those who are qualified to evaluate this, I suspect a consensus as to validity will develop within weeks if not days. If thumbs up, he must be worthy of one of the outstanding large-cash-value math prizes. Perhaps even the Nobel?

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