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Too long, cannot watch. What does the P=NP problem mean? Simplest possible explanation. ChatGPT said: The P=NP problem is a big question in computer science
by timonoko 2y ago
Too long, cannot watch.
What does the P=NP problem mean? Simplest possible explanation.
ChatGPT said:
The P=NP problem is a big question in computer science about how fast we can solve problems with computers.
P represents all the problems that computers can solve quickly (in a reasonable amount of time).
NP represents problems where, if you have a solution, you can check it quickly to see if it's correct.
The question is: Are these two types of problems actually the same? In other words, if you can check a solution quickly (NP), can you also find that solution quickly (P)?
If the answer is "yes" (P = NP), it would mean that many hard problems could be solved quickly, which would be a huge breakthrough. If "no" (P ≠ NP), it means some problems are just inherently hard to solve quickly, even if checking the solution is easy.
The problem is so tough that no one has been able to prove whether P equals NP or not.
- RGamma 2y agoThat explanation is by definition. The perspective given in the video is about encoding NP problems as satisfiability problem and then solving these efficiently if P=NP. A corollary is that by suitably constraining the output of such instances a (practical) PTIME SAT solver would efficiently invert hash functions or any other circuit, breaking cryptography.