Principle of Conservation of Computational Complexity
Abstract
In this manuscript, we derive the principle of conservation of computational complexity. We measure computational complexity as the number of binary computations (decisions) required to solve a problem. Every problem then defines a unique solution space measurable in bits. For an exact result, decisions in the solution space can neither be predicted nor discarded, only transferred between input and algorithm. We demonstrate and explain this principle using the example of the propositional logic satisfiability problem (). It inevitably follows that . We also provide an alternative explanation for the undecidability of the halting problem based on the principle.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1712.01178,
title = {Principle of Conservation of Computational Complexity},
author = {Gerald Friedland and Alfredo Metere},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1712.01178},
year = {2018}
}
Comments
This version of the article improves on the previous versions by generalizing to a general principle. This way, the very technical reduction of the halting problem to SAT_syntax is unnecessary. The authors would like to thank their peers for feedback and arxiv.org for enabling it. Feedback is always encouraged