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Nature 435, 751-752 (9 June 2005) | doi:10.1038/435751a; Published online 8 June 2005
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Computational science: Can get satisfaction
Carla P. Gomes1 & Bart Selman1
Abstract
The sheer complexity of some computational problems means they will probably never be solved, despite the ever-increasing resources available. But we can sometimes predict under what conditions solutions exist.
Computer scientists have been quite successful at developing fast algorithms: Google, for example, searches its index of more than eight billion web pages in a fraction of a second. The indexed-search problem is said to be 'tractable', or efficiently solvable; it is even possible to guarantee that, no matter what keywords you search on, you will get an answer quickly.
- Carla P. Gomes is in the Faculty of Computing and Information Science, Departments of Applied Economics and Management and of Computer Science, and Bart Selman is in the Department of Computer Science, Cornell University, 4148 Upson Hall, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA.
Email: selman@cs.cornell.edu
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RESEARCH
Rigorous location of phase transitions in hard optimization problemsNature Article (09 Jun 2005)
Determining computational complexity from characteristic ?phase transitions?Nature Article (08 Jul 1999)
