Related papers: The Limits of Mathematics---Fourth Version
This is an alternative version of the course notes in chao-dyn/9407003. The previous version is based on measuring the size of lisp s-expressions. This version is based on measuring the size of what I call lisp m-expressions, which are lisp…
This is yet another version of the course notes in chao-dyn/9407003. Here we change the universal Turing machine that is used to measure program-size complexity so that the constants in our information-theoretic incompleteness theorems are…
Most work on computational complexity is concerned with time. However this course will try to show that program-size complexity, which measures algorithmic information, is of much greater philosophical significance. I'll discuss how one can…
Multiplication is one of the most fundamental computational problems, yet its true complexity remains elusive. The best known upper bound, by F\"{u}rer, shows that two $n$-bit numbers can be multiplied via a boolean circuit of size $O(n \lg…
A Chaitin Omega number is the halting probability of a universal Chaitin (self-delimiting Turing) machine. Every Omega number is both computably enumerable (the limit of a computable, increasing, converging sequence of rationals) and random…
Symmetry of information states that $C(x) + C(y|x) = C(x,y) + O(\log C(x))$. We show that a similar relation for online Kolmogorov complexity does not hold. Let the even (online Kolmogorov) complexity of an n-bitstring $x_1x_2... x_n$ be…
Chaitin's incompleteness theorem states that sufficiently rich formal systems cannot prove lower bounds on Kolmogorov complexity. In this paper we extend this theorem by showing theories that prove the Kolmogorov complexity of a large (but…
Chaitin [G. J. Chaitin, J. Assoc. Comput. Mach., vol.22, pp.329-340, 1975] introduced \Omega number as a concrete example of random real. The real \Omega is defined as the probability that an optimal computer halts, where the optimal…
We introduce a set of eight universal Rules of Inference by which computer programs with known properties (axioms) are transformed into new programs with known properties (theorems). Axioms are presented to formalize a segment of Number…
The purpose of this paper is to answer two questions left open in [B. Durand, A. Shen, and N. Vereshchagin, Descriptive Complexity of Computable Sequences, Theoretical Computer Science 171 (2001), pp. 47--58]. Namely, we consider the…
We show that deterministic quantum computing with a single bit (DQC1) can determine whether the classical limit of a quantum system is chaotic or integrable using O(N) physical resources, where $N$ is the dimension of the Hilbert space of…
A bit string commitment protocol securely commits $N$ classical bits in such a way that the recipient can extract only $M<N$ bits of information about the string. Classical reasoning might suggest that bit string commitment implies bit…
To explore the limitation of a class of quantum algorithms originally proposed for the Hilbert's tenth problem, we consider two further classes of mathematically non-decidable problems, those of a modified version of the Hilbert's tenth…
We study the bit complexity of two related fundamental computational problems in linear algebra and control theory. Our results are: (1) An $\tilde{O}(n^{\omega+3}a+n^4a^2+n^\omega\log(1/\epsilon))$ time algorithm for finding an…
We revisit the fundamentals of Circuit Complexity and the nature of efficient computation from a fresh perspective. We present a framework for understanding Circuit Complexity through the lens of Information Theory with analogies to results…
We present a new method for expressing Chaitin's random real, Omega, through Diophantine equations. Where Chaitin's method causes a particular quantity to express the bits of Omega by fluctuating between finite and infinite values, in our…
We consider a range of simply stated dynamic data structure problems on strings. An update changes one symbol in the input and a query asks us to compute some function of the pattern of length $m$ and a substring of a longer text. We give…
A remarkable new definition of a self-delimiting universal Turing machine is presented that is easy to program and runs very quickly. This provides a new foundation for algorithmic information theory. This new universal Turing machine is…
Unconditionally secure non-relativistic bit commitment is known to be impossible in both the classical and the quantum world. However, when committing to a string of n bits at once, how far can we stretch the quantum limits? In this letter,…
While concepts and tools from Theoretical Computer Science are regularly applied to, and significantly support, software development for discrete problems, Numerical Engineering largely employs recipes and methods whose correctness and…