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Subject: Re: is Chess a Hard NP?

Author: Russell Reagan

Date: 19:44:13 01/20/05

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On January 20, 2005 at 10:40:11, Robert Hyatt wrote:

>There are those that will argue that the complexity
>of chess is O(1) simply because chess is finite.  And once you search to the end
>of the game, further searches will take no longer (going deeper produces no new
>information and takes no more additional time since every branch stops when the
>game ends along that branch).  But I'll leave that nonsense to those that want
>to take things too literally. :)  I'll use the good old stand-by O(W^D) for the
>complexity of chess for today, tomorrow, and for as long as I personally will
>live...
>
>This is one of those discussions that do nothing more than waste time and
>bandwidth, with neither side able to convince the other of whether it is O(1) or
>exponential. :)


Using the same logic which concludes that chess is O(1), isn't a linear search
also O(1)? To use a tool such as O-notation in such a way seems to render it
useless (to the person who uses it incorrectly).

Reminds me of the person who goes to the doctor and says, "Doc, it hurts every
time I bend my arm like this..." And the doctor says, "Then stop bending your
arm like that."

You are right. What a waste of time.



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