Computational Intractability: A Guide to Algorithmic Lower Bounds

A practical guide to understanding the theory and practice of computational lower bounds.

A fundamental question in computer science is: “Given a problem, how hard is it to solve?” Usually, the answer to this question lies in determining how long it will take to solve a problem as a function of the length of the input. Yet this question has two different parts, with two different answers: (1) upper bounds, which show that a problem can be solved in time T(n), and (2) lower bounds, which show...