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1 vote
0 answers
92 views

Proof for non-existence of short integer program for squares

We do not know if $P=NP$ or not or if there is a superfast integer mutiplication algorithm. But I do not think either assumption is necessary to answer this question. Is there a way to show within an ...
19 votes
2 answers
1k views

Explicit invariant of tensors nonvanishing on the diagonal

The group $SL_n \times SL_n \times SL_n$ acts naturally on the vector space $\mathbb C^n \otimes \mathbb C^n \otimes \mathbb C^n$ and has a rather large ring of polynomial invariants. The element $$\...
0 votes
0 answers
92 views

Algorithm that can solve or approximate the solution to a combination problem

I have a computational problem on my hands and I would like your help. Here is my problem (simplified) Let $X = \{x_1, x_2, \ldots, x_n\}$ represent a set of $n$ values. Each value $x_i$ has a ...
3 votes
1 answer
342 views

counting patterns in a word

Do algorithms exist to find all the patterns in a word? I would like to count all the 3-step increasing sequences (123 i.e. 123, 234 & 345) in some word in the alphabet {1,2,3,4,5} such as "...
4 votes
0 answers
155 views

Permutation generation problem using swaps

This is motivated by Aaronson's post, Probability of generating a desired permutation by random swaps. I am interested in a related problem where the swaps are given in the input. We're given as input ...
14 votes
6 answers
4k views

Non-constructive proofs vs. efficient algorithms

My question concerns what is meant by "nonconstructive", and whether it has ever been defined in terms of computational complexity. The wikipedia article on constructive proof begins, "a constructive ...
2 votes
0 answers
81 views

Degeneracy and the "Linear Degeneracy Testing" problem

The Affine Degeneracy problem is about deciding whether $n$ given points in $\mathbb{R}^d$ (or $\mathbb{Q}^d$) are "in general position". i.e. there is no $d+1$ tuple of points which lies in ...
3 votes
1 answer
214 views

NP-hardness of finding maximum of minimum element in diagonal of a matrix

For $A = \{a_{ij}\} \in R^{n\times n}$, is finding $$ \max_{\sigma \in S_n}\min_{1 \le i \le n} a_{i,\ \sigma_i} $$ NP-hard?
5 votes
1 answer
291 views

Minimum number of edges to remove to have low degree

I have the following problem, where $k$ is a fixed integer. Input: Graph $G$. Output: Minimum number of edges to remove from $G$ to obtain a graph such that every node has degree at most $k$. Do ...
1 vote
0 answers
101 views

On determinant and permanent of certain homotopy defined simple matrices

Let $A_1,A_2,B_1,B_2$ be four $n\times n$ $0/1$ square matrices where $$\det(A_1)=\det(A_2)=per(A_1)=per(A_2)=1$$ $$\det(B_1)=\det(B_2)=per(B_1)=per(B_2)=0$$ hold ($per$ refers to permanent). I. What ...
1 vote
0 answers
161 views

On an optimization question

Suppose we have a square matrix $M=(1-z)A+zB$ where $A,B$ have integer entries from $\{0,1\}$ with $\det(A)+\det(B)=1$ and $\det(A),\det(B),per(A),per(B)\in\{0,1\}$ and we want to find $z\in[0,1]$ ...
13 votes
6 answers
3k views

A decision problem in graph coloring

It'll be great to get a pointer or answer to the following question: What is the complexity of the following problem? Given an unweighted and undirected graph, can we have a proper (not necessarily ...
3 votes
2 answers
404 views

A natural problem on "cartesian union" of set families (hypergraphs). Are there NP-complete problems related to the notion of cartesian product?

I'm curious whether the problem below is NP-complete. I provide two simple definitions and one example at first. Definition 1. Let $\langle \cal S_i\rangle\substack{i\in I}$ and $\langle \cal S_j \...
54 votes
2 answers
8k views

Walsh Fourier transform of the Möbius function

This question is related to this previous question where I asked about ordinary Fourier coefficients. Special case: is Möbius nearly orthogonal to Morse August Ferdinand Möbius (November 17, 1790 – ...
2 votes
0 answers
245 views

Pancake sorting problem – Is computing f(n) NP-hard?

The so-called Pancake flipping problem first discussed by Jacob E. Goodman here yields two entangled problems: MIN-SBPR (Sorting By Prefix Reversals) - Given a permutation, find the smallest sequence ...
0 votes
0 answers
59 views

NC0 randomness vs. non-uniformity

In Ajtai and Ben-Or. A theorem on probabilistic constant depth Computations. STOC '84, 1984 Ajtai and Ben-Or show a non-uniform derandomization of BPAC0. Is there a similar relation known for ...
3 votes
1 answer
271 views

The number of $3$-CNF formulas in $n$-variables and the fraction of satisfiable ones

What is the number of $3$-CNF (conjunctive normal form) formulas with $n$ sentential variables and what is the fraction of satisfiable ones? I consider two formulas the same if they are syntactically ...
2 votes
1 answer
209 views

Computational complexity and commuting functions, examples and conjectures

History of the question. I was proposing a conjecture here, called Prop. 1. Fedor Pakhomov showed a counter-example. Here I am proposing a slightly weaker version of the conjecture, Prop. 2, that ...
8 votes
1 answer
225 views

Computational complexity and commuting functions

EDIT: in this question, I was proposing a conjecture, Prop. 1. Fedor Pakhomov showed a counter-example. In this new question I propose a slightly weaker conjecture that holds even for that example and ...
4 votes
1 answer
362 views

Lower bound on the number of solutions of 2SAT

To compute the number of solutions of a 2SAT is a hard problem. Is there some nontrivial lower or upper bound on this number in terms of a “coarse-grained” description of the Boolean formula, for ...
1 vote
1 answer
187 views

A combinatorial matrix reconstruction problem II

For a positive integer $n$, let an $n$-shuffle be a multiset $S=[(S_i,d_i)|i=1,\ldots,n]$ of pairs $(S_i,d_i)$, where each $S_i$ is a multiset of $n$ numbers containing the number $d_i$. A realization ...
1 vote
1 answer
209 views

Deciding if given number is a permanent of matrix

The permanent of an $n$-by- $n$ matrix $A=\left(a_{i j}\right)$ is defined as $$ \operatorname{perm}(A)=\sum_{\sigma \in S_{n}} \prod_{i=1}^{n} a_{i, \sigma(i)} $$ The sum here extends over all ...
11 votes
1 answer
410 views

Complexity of counting regions in hyperplane arrangements

Let $H_1,\ldots,H_n$ be hyperplanes in $\Bbb R^d$. Denote $\mathcal{H} :=\{H_1,\ldots,H_n\}$ and let $c(\mathcal{H})$ be the number of regions in the complement: $\Bbb R^d\setminus \bigcup H_i$. ...
3 votes
0 answers
130 views

Is counting Latin squares #P-complete?

I feel like I should know the answer to this. I did some Googling and didn't easily find the answer... Question: Is counting Latin squares #P-complete? Obviously the corresponding decision problem &...
11 votes
3 answers
3k views

Do you know a faster algorithm to color planar graphs?

while studying the four color theorem, I implemented an algorithm (in Python and Sage) that can color planar graphs much faster than the implementations I found around on internet. The program can be ...
1 vote
1 answer
119 views

Problem NP-completeness on a specific graph class

Consider the class of simple connected n/2-regular graphs, n even. Are the maximum clique problem and/or maximum independent set problem NP-complete on such graphs? Is there any known result which ...
10 votes
1 answer
890 views

How hard is it to compute the Davenport constant?

The Davenport constant $D(G)$ of a finite abelian group $(G,+)$ is the least positive integer $k$ such that every sequence in $G$ of length $k$ has a zero-sum (nonempty) subsequence. It seems that the ...
0 votes
0 answers
84 views

Shattering of a set of binary classifiers

Let $S$ be a set, and let $\mathcal{F}_{S}=\{f:S\to\{-1,+1\}\}$ be a set of different label assignments. Show that $\mathcal{F}_{S}$ shatters at least $|\mathcal{F}_{S}|$ subsets of $S$. Here is what ...
10 votes
0 answers
454 views

Fast method to verify if a point belongs to a given convex $d$-polytope

We are given a $d$-dimensional convex polytope $P\in\mathbb{R}^d$. Assume we have all the supporting hyperplanes describing $P$ and its vertices. Let $S$ be a sequence of $n\gg 1$ points $\mathbb{R}^d$...
22 votes
2 answers
6k views

$\mathbf{P} = \mathbf{NP}$, what's the problem?

Let's take the problem of the backpack: $A_1,\ldots ,A_n$ the weights that are integers, and we want to know if we can achieve a total weight of $V$. We take $$I=\dfrac{1}{2\pi}\int_0^{2\pi} \exp(-iVt)...
2 votes
0 answers
91 views

Blind construction of planar graph with additive spanning tree count

Suppose we have two planar graphs $G_1$ and $G_2$ with number of spanning tree count $P_1$ and $P_2$ respectively then there is an easy construction which gives a planar graph with spanning tree count ...
7 votes
0 answers
203 views

Upper bound on the number of perfect matchings in $K_{3,3}$-free graphs

Let $G=(V,E)$ be a graph with an even number of vertices $|V|=2n$. Assume that $G$ is $K_{3,3}$-free i.e. it does not contain a graph isomorphic to biclique $K_{3,3}$. A perfect matching of $G$ is a ...
1 vote
1 answer
137 views

Complexity of edge coloring graphs with $\Delta(G) \ge n/3$ assuming the overfull conjecture

Closely related to this on cstheory. Let $G$ be graph of order $n$ with $\Delta(G) \ge n/3$. Assume the overfull conjecture. Can we edge color $G$ with minimal number of colors in polynomial time? ...
8 votes
0 answers
237 views

Size of 3-SAT assignments

Let $F(N,M)$ be the set of 3-SAT formula with $N$ variables and $M$ clauses. For a given formula $f\in F(N,M)$, we can ask for the set $s_f$ of truth assignments that satisfy $f$. (If $f$ is ...
4 votes
0 answers
182 views

Determine the minimal elements of a Dynkin system generated by a finite set of finite sets

(This is a refined version of https://cs.stackexchange.com/q/144371) Let $\Omega$ be a finite set. A Dynkin system on $\Omega$ is a subset of the power set of $\Omega$ containing $\Omega$, which is ...
13 votes
1 answer
2k views

Erdős multiplication problem revisited

This is a well-known problem and is about counting the number of distinct numbers in the $n \times n$ multiplication table. The very problem has been discussed in-depth and, as such, I require no ...
47 votes
7 answers
5k views

Is it easy to produce hard-to-color graphs?

This question arises from my recent visit to my daughter's second-grade class, where I led some discussion and activities on graph coloring (see Math for seven-year-olds). In one such activity, each ...
1 vote
0 answers
185 views

Maximum independent set in dense graphs

Let $0 < A < 1$ and $G$ be connected d-regular graph with degree $d=[A n]$. The density of $G$ is about $A$. Q1 Are there constraints on $A$ such that finding maximum independent set of $G$ is ...
2 votes
0 answers
64 views

Polynomial-time algorithm for uniformly sampling the $n$-slice of a context-free language

Let $L\subset \Sigma^*$ be a context-free language. The $n$-slice is the intersection $L\cap \Sigma^n$ for a non-negative integer $n$. Is there a polynomial-time algorithm for uniformly sampling from ...
24 votes
2 answers
2k views

Can one measure the infeasibility of four color proofs?

Terms like "impractical" and "unfeasible" are used to say the Robertson, Sanders, Seymour, and Thomas proof of the four color theorem needs computer assistance. Obviously no precise measure is ...
1 vote
1 answer
218 views

What is this invariant graph?

Let $G$ be a simple graph (finite or infinite), $[n]\mathrel{:=}\{1,...,n\}$. Define the function: $$\varepsilon_n(G)\mathrel{:=}\min_\phi{\lvert{\operatorname{dom} (\phi)}\rvert},$$ where $\phi$ is ...
46 votes
8 answers
5k views

Can a problem be simultaneously polynomial time and undecidable?

The Robertson-Seymour theorem on graph minors leads to some interesting conundrums. The theorem states that any minor-closed class of graphs can be described by a finite number of excluded minors. As ...
12 votes
4 answers
4k views

reversible Turing machines

Hello, Let T be a Turing machine such that 1) it operates on the alphabet {0,1}, 2) its set of states is A 3) the language it accepts is $L$ . Does there exists a Turing machine S which also ...
1 vote
0 answers
75 views

Subgraph isomorphism problem with linear map

I am working on proving the NP-hardness of a problem by reducing it from the subgraph isomorphism problem. Currently, I can reduce it from the following problem: Problem 1: Given two graphs $G=(V, E)$ ...
4 votes
1 answer
209 views

Finding a binary variable assignment to make a matrix with variables singular (over F_p)

Consider a square matrix defined over a finite field $M\in\mathbb{F}_p^{n\times n}$ having the following form $$M=\begin{bmatrix}a_{11}+b_{11}x_1&a_{12}+b_{12}x_1&\dots&a_{1n}+b_{1n}x_1\\...
1 vote
0 answers
209 views

Solution to system of linear equations

Input: System of linear equations $$A[x_1,\dots,x_{t}]=b$$ where number of equations is at least number of variables but independence is not guaranteed. However there is atmost one non-negative ...
25 votes
2 answers
2k views

Who first dubbed them "expander graphs"?

Expander graphs ("sparse graphs that have strong connectivity properties") burst onto the mathematical scene around the millennium, but I have not been successful in tracing the origin of (a) the ...
29 votes
2 answers
1k views

Determining if a rational function has a subtraction-free expression

This question was first asked by Mehtaab Sawhney in Alex Postnikov's combinatorics class. Given a rational function $F=P(x_1,...,x_n)/Q(x_1,...,x_n)$ with (say) integer coefficients, it is often of ...
1 vote
1 answer
157 views

Is the graph minicut with the node cardinality constraint NP-hard?

I wonder whether the following problem is a well-studied NP-hard problem? Get a graph $G$ and a number $k$, we partition the graph $G$ into two components where each component should have at most $k$ ...
1 vote
0 answers
176 views

Reduction graph isomorphism to maximum independent set in very dense graph

We got a reduction graph isomorphism to MIS in a very dense graph, or alternatively negative monotone 2-CNF to MAX-ONEs with a formula with many clauses. Let $G,H$ be graphs of order $n$ and adjacency ...

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