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Subject: Re: Big-O notation

Author: Andrew Dados

Date: 10:48:45 05/09/01

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On May 09, 2001 at 13:26:17, Dann Corbit wrote:

>On May 09, 2001 at 13:08:18, Ricardo Gibert wrote:
>[snip]
>>In the traveling salesman problem, f(n) is NP rather than P, since there does
>>*not* exist a constant c sth f(n) = c*P, since n is unbounded.
>>
>>It essential to understand the terms bounded, unbounded and infinity in their
>>proper context.
>
>Since there are a finite number of cities, the travelling salesman problem has
>SUDDENLY BECOME BOUNDED and you have solved question as to whether a polynomial
>time solution exists.  In fact, by your definition, you have found a solution
>which is O(1).
>
>I imagine the computer science community will be very happy to hear about this.
>
>They don't have a nobel prize for computer science, which is probably just as
>well.

I see no need getting sarcastic here.

There sure are finite number of cities, but the travelling salesman problem
*scales*, while chess don't. Each salseman problem is independant and number of
cities is not bounded. Chess is a one-time problem; if you solve it, then you
solved all chess positions.

I think one should not confuse finite chess problem with minimax algorithm which
can be applied to unbound problems as well as to chess.

-Andrew-



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