A diagram showing the relevant complexity classes in the P vs NP problem. “P” problems are solvable in polynomial time; “NP” problems might be solvable in polynomial time, and are checkable in ...

The following is an extract from our Lost in Space-Time newsletter. Each month, we hand over the keyboard to a physicist or mathematician to tell you about fascinating ideas from their corner of the ...

When computer scientists hang out at cocktail parties, they're apt to chat, among other things, about the single most important unsolved problem in computer science: the question, Does P = NP?

Has the biggest question in computer science been solved? On 6 August, Vinay Deolalikar, a mathematician at Hewlett-Packard Labs in Palo Alto, California, sent out draft copies of a paper titled ...

Complexity theory remains one of the great unsolved mathematical puzzles. Kenneth Regan is trying to figure it out. Kenneth Regan paused at lunch in New York to glance at incoming texts from top ...

One of the biggest open problems in mathematics may be solved within the next decade, according to a poll of computer scientists. A solution to the so-called P versus NP problem is worth $1 million ...