NP-Completeness

Reference book: Introduction to Algorithms (2nd Ed.) T.H. Cormen et.al.

Dr. Md. Saiful Islam, Asst Prof, DUET

CSE-311 (Algorithm)

Introduction
Polynomial-time algorithms
The algorithms having worst case running time O(nk) for some constant k, are polynomial-time algorithms. Problems that are solvable in polynomial time are called tractable or easy problems.

Superpolynomial-time algorithms
All problems can not be solved in polynomial times: Turings famous Halting Problem can not be solved by any computer no matter how much time is provided. There are also problem (e.g. TSP) that can be solved (e.g. in exponential time) but not in time O(nk) for some constant k. Problems that requires superpolynomial time are called intractable or hard problems.
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NP-Complete problems
This is an interesting class of problems whose status is unknown. No polynomial time algorithm has yet been discovered for an NPcomplete problem On the other hand, nobody has not yet been able to prove that no polynomial time algorithm can exist for any of them. This is the most perplexing open research problem in theoretical computer science known as P NP question.

Dr. Md. Saiful Islam, Asst Prof, DUET

CSE-311 (Algorithm)

Pairs of similar Problem:

In each of the following pairs of problems, one is solvable in polynomial time and the other is NP-complete, but difference between them seems slight . i. ii. Shortest vs. longest simple paths Euler tour vs. hamiltonian-cycle

iii. 2-CNF satisfiability vs. 3-CNF satisfiability

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Class P, NP and NPC

Definitions:
Class P: The class P consists of those problems that are solvable in polynomial time. More specifically, they are problems that can be solved in time O(nk) for some constant k, where n is the size of input to the problems. Class NP: The class NP consists of those problems that are verifiable in polynomial time. If we are given a certificate of a solution we can verify the certificate is correct in time polynomial in the size of the input of the problem. Example: In the hamiltonian cycle problem, given a directed graph G = (V, E) a certificate would be a sequence <v1, v2, , v|V|> of |V| vertices. It is easy to check in polynomial time that (vi, vi+1) E for i = 1, 2, |V| -1 and that (v|V|, v1) E as well.
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Class NPC: A problem is in the class NPC if it is in NP and is as hard as any problem in NP. If any NP-complete problem can be solved in polynomial time then every NP-complete has a polynomial time algorithm.

Dr. Md. Saiful Islam, Asst Prof, DUET

CSE-311 (Algorithm)

Importance of NP-completeness theory:

If you can establish a problem as NP-complete, you provide a good evidence for its intractability. As an engineer, you would then do better spending your time developing an approximation algorithm rather than searching for a fast algorithm that solves the problem exactly. Many natural and important problem on the surface seems no harder than sorting or graph searching are in fact NP-complete problem. Thus it is important to become familiar with this class of problems.

Dr. Md. Saiful Islam, Asst Prof, DUET

CSE-311 (Algorithm)

Proving problems to be NP-complete

There are three key concepts in showing a problem to be NP-complete: i. ii. Decision problem vs. optimization problem Reductions

iii. A first NP-complete problem.

Dr. Md. Saiful Islam, Asst Prof, DUET

CSE-311 (Algorithm)

Decision vs. optimization problems

NP-completeness applies directly not to optimization problems, however, but to decision problems, in which the answer is simply yes or no. We usually can cast a given optimization problem to a decision problem by imposing a bound on the value to be optimized. Example: for SHORTEST-PATH the related decision problem, which we call PATH, is whether, given a directed graph G, vertices u and v, and an integer k, a path exists from u to v consisting of at most k edges. If we can provide evidence that a decision problem is hard then its related optimization is also hard.

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CSE-311 (Algorithm)

Reductions
Instance: We call the input to a particular problem an instance of that problem. Example: In PATH, an instance would be a particular graph G, particular vertices u and v of G, and a particular integer k. Reductions: Let us consider a decision problem, say A, which we would like to solve in polynomial time. Now suppose there is a different decision problem, say B, that we already know how to solve in polynomial time. Finally, suppose that we have a procedure that transfers an instance of A into some instance of B with the following characteristic: i. ii. The transformation takes polynomial time. The answers are the same. That is, the answer for is yes if and only if the answer for is also yes.

We call such a procedure a polynomial-time reduction algorithm.

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Reduction provides us a way to solve problem A in polynomial time:

i.

Given an instance of problem A, use a polynomial-time reduction algorithm to transfer it to an instance of problem B. Run the polynomial time decision problem for B on the instance .

ii.

iii. Use the answer for as the answer for . Using polynomial time reductions to show that a problem is NP-complete: Suppose we have a decision problem A for which we already know that no polynomial time algorithm can exist. We have a polynomial-time reduction procedure to transfer instances of A to instances of B. Now by contradiction we can show that no polynomial time algorithm can exist for B.
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Dr. Md. Saiful Islam, Asst Prof, DUET

A First NP-complete Problem

Because the technique of reduction relies on having a problem already known NP-completeness We need the first NP-complete problem. Generally the circuit-satisfiability problem is used as the first problem.

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CSE-311 (Algorithm)

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NP-complete Problems
NP-complete problems arise in diverse domains boolean logic graph arithmetic network design storage and retrieval games and puzzles program optimization biology chemistry etc.
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Some NP-complete problems from graph theory and set partitioning: The clique problem Clique V = {u, v, x, y} Find the clique of maximum size The vertex-cover problem Vertex cover V = {w,z} Find the vertex cover of minimum size The hamiltonian-cycle problem The traveling salesman problem The sum of subset problem
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