226 research outputs found
Mean-payoff Automaton Expressions
Quantitative languages are an extension of boolean languages that assign to
each word a real number. Mean-payoff automata are finite automata with
numerical weights on transitions that assign to each infinite path the long-run
average of the transition weights. When the mode of branching of the automaton
is deterministic, nondeterministic, or alternating, the corresponding class of
quantitative languages is not robust as it is not closed under the pointwise
operations of max, min, sum, and numerical complement. Nondeterministic and
alternating mean-payoff automata are not decidable either, as the quantitative
generalization of the problems of universality and language inclusion is
undecidable.
We introduce a new class of quantitative languages, defined by mean-payoff
automaton expressions, which is robust and decidable: it is closed under the
four pointwise operations, and we show that all decision problems are decidable
for this class. Mean-payoff automaton expressions subsume deterministic
mean-payoff automata, and we show that they have expressive power incomparable
to nondeterministic and alternating mean-payoff automata. We also present for
the first time an algorithm to compute distance between two quantitative
languages, and in our case the quantitative languages are given as mean-payoff
automaton expressions
Parameterized Complexity of Graph Constraint Logic
Graph constraint logic is a framework introduced by Hearn and Demaine, which
provides several problems that are often a convenient starting point for
reductions. We study the parameterized complexity of Constraint Graph
Satisfiability and both bounded and unbounded versions of Nondeterministic
Constraint Logic (NCL) with respect to solution length, treewidth and maximum
degree of the underlying constraint graph as parameters. As a main result we
show that restricted NCL remains PSPACE-complete on graphs of bounded
bandwidth, strengthening Hearn and Demaine's framework. This allows us to
improve upon existing results obtained by reduction from NCL. We show that
reconfiguration versions of several classical graph problems (including
independent set, feedback vertex set and dominating set) are PSPACE-complete on
planar graphs of bounded bandwidth and that Rush Hour, generalized to boards, is PSPACE-complete even when is at most a constant
Bounds in Query Learning
We introduce new combinatorial quantities for concept classes, and prove
lower and upper bounds for learning complexity in several models of query
learning in terms of various combinatorial quantities. Our approach is flexible
and powerful enough to enough to give new and very short proofs of the
efficient learnability of several prominent examples (e.g. regular languages
and regular -languages), in some cases also producing new bounds on the
number of queries. In the setting of equivalence plus membership queries, we
give an algorithm which learns a class in polynomially many queries whenever
any such algorithm exists.
We also study equivalence query learning in a randomized model, producing new
bounds on the expected number of queries required to learn an arbitrary
concept. Many of the techniques and notions of dimension draw inspiration from
or are related to notions from model theory, and these connections are
explained. We also use techniques from query learning to mildly improve a
result of Laskowski regarding compression schemes
Logic and Automata
Mathematical logic and automata theory are two scientific disciplines with a fundamentally close relationship. The authors of Logic and Automata take the occasion of the sixtieth birthday of Wolfgang Thomas to present a tour d'horizon of automata theory and logic. The twenty papers in this volume cover many different facets of logic and automata theory, emphasizing the connections to other disciplines such as games, algorithms, and semigroup theory, as well as discussing current challenges in the field
A characterization of the power of vector machines
A new formal model of register machines is described. Registers contain bit vectorswhich are manipulated using bitwise Boolean operations and shifts. Our main results relate the language recognition power of such vector machines to that of Turing machines. A class of vector machines is exhibited for which time on a vector machine supplies, to within a polynomial, just as much power as space on a Turing machine. Moreover, this is true regardless of whether the machines are deterministic or non-deterministic
Why Philosophers Should Care About Computational Complexity
One might think that, once we know something is computable, how efficiently
it can be computed is a practical question with little further philosophical
importance. In this essay, I offer a detailed case that one would be wrong. In
particular, I argue that computational complexity theory---the field that
studies the resources (such as time, space, and randomness) needed to solve
computational problems---leads to new perspectives on the nature of
mathematical knowledge, the strong AI debate, computationalism, the problem of
logical omniscience, Hume's problem of induction, Goodman's grue riddle, the
foundations of quantum mechanics, economic rationality, closed timelike curves,
and several other topics of philosophical interest. I end by discussing aspects
of complexity theory itself that could benefit from philosophical analysis.Comment: 58 pages, to appear in "Computability: G\"odel, Turing, Church, and
beyond," MIT Press, 2012. Some minor clarifications and corrections; new
references adde
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