Skip to main content

On the relative complexity of subproblems of intractable problems

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 182))

Abstract

A subproblem of a problem A is the restriction of A to some polynomial time computable set. A set A is subproblem complete (s.c.) if every polynomial time (p-) degree below the p-degree of A contains a subproblem of A. A is decomposition complete (d.c.) if every splitting of the p-degree of A is witnessed by a decomposition of A into two subproblems. We show that all p-cylinders and thus most of the "natural" problems are s.c. and d.c. with respect to p-many-one (Karp) reducibility. We also show, however, that not every problem has these properties. Furthermore, we discuss these completeness properties with respect to p-Turing (Cook) reducibility.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. K. Ambos-Spies, P-mitotic sets, in "Logic and Machines: Decision Problems and Complexity" (E.Börger et al., Eds.), Springer Lecture Notes Comp. Sc., vol. 171 (1984), 1–23.

    Google Scholar 

  2. K. Ambos-Spies, On the structure of polynomial time degrees, in "STACS 84, Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science" (M.Fontet and K.Mehlhorn, Eds.), Springer Lecture Notes Comp. Sc., vol. 166 (1984), 198–208.

    Google Scholar 

  3. K.Ambos-Spies, Inhomogeneities in the polynomial time degrees: the degrees of super sparse sets, preprint.

    Google Scholar 

  4. T. Baker, J. Gill and R. Solovay, Relativizations of the P=?NP question, SIAM J. Computing 4 (1975) 431–442.

    Google Scholar 

  5. L. Berman and J. Hartmanis, On isomorphisms and density of NP and other complete sets, SIAM J. Computing 6 (1977) 305–322.

    Google Scholar 

  6. S.A.Cook, The complexity of theorem proving procedures, Proc. Third Annual ACM Symp. on Theory of Computing (1971), 151–158.

    Google Scholar 

  7. M.R.Garey and D.S.Johnson, Computers and Intractability: A Guide to the Theory of NP-completeness, H.Freeman, 1978, San Francisco.

    Google Scholar 

  8. uJ.E. Hopcroft and J.D. Ullman, Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages and Computation, 1979, Reading, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  9. R.M. Karp, Reducibility among combinatorial problems, in "Complexity of Computer Computations" (R.E. Miller and J.W. Thatcher, Eds.), 1972, Plenum, New York, 85–103.

    Google Scholar 

  10. R.E. Ladner, On the structure of polynomial time reducibility, J.ACM 22 (1975) 155–171.

    Google Scholar 

  11. R.E. Ladner, N. Lynch and A.L. Selman, A comparison of polynomial time reducibilities, Theor. Comp. Sci. 1 (1975) 103–123.

    Google Scholar 

  12. H. Rogers, Jr., The Theory of Recursive Functions and Effective Computability, 1967, McGraw-Hill, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  13. I.Simon, Two results on polynomial time reducibilities, Sigact News, February 1976.

    Google Scholar 

  14. I.Simon and J.Gill, Polynomial reducibilities and upward diagonalizations, Proc. Ninth Ann. ACM Symp. on Theory of Computing (1977), 186–194.

    Google Scholar 

  15. P.Young, Some structural properties of polynomial time reducibilities and sets in NP, Proc. Fifteenth Ann. ACM Symp. on Theory of Computing (1983), 392–401.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

K. Mehlhorn

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1984 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Ambos-Spies, K. (1984). On the relative complexity of subproblems of intractable problems. In: Mehlhorn, K. (eds) STACS 85. STACS 1985. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 182. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0023989

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0023989

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-13912-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-39136-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics