Handouts and Notes:

• Questions and Answers

• Requirements

• Syllabus

• If some of the symbols that I have been using seem Greek to you, here is a Symbol Table to help you remember what they mean.

Teaching Assistant: Brandon McPhail, CompSci Bldg 314, mcphailb@cs.umass.edu

What is this course about? This course presents an in-depth introduction to the main models and concepts of the mathematical theory of computation, including: Computability, Complexity, and Logic. I will emphasize the ability to go from a concrete problem to a mathematical model; and, after proving things about the mathematical model, to correctly interpret what we have learned about the concrete problem. For example, we will learn how to tell whether a problem we need to solve is NP complete, or even undecidable, and if so, WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT.

Text: The following required textbook will be available at the Textbook Annex

[P] Christos Papadimitriou, Computational Complexity, 1994, Addison-Wesley.

See the following website for the text's errata.

Meeting times: M,W 10:35 -- 11:50, and F 11:15 -- 12:05, CMPS 140. First meeting Mon., Jan. 26, 2009.

Prerequisites: Mathematical maturity at the level of Comp Sci 250 is a minimal requirement. One nice book that helps with mathematical background is, How to Prove It by Daniel Velleman.

Most students will have had an undergraduate course in Automata and Formal Languages such as Comp Sci 401. For those who don't, we will have a fast in-class review of Regular and Context-Free Languages. For students who don't know this material, it would be helpful to read one of the following in advance:

• John E. Hopcroft and Jeffrey D. Ullman, Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation, Addison-Wesley, 1979: Chapters 1--6.
• Harry Lewis and Christos Papadimitriou, Elements of the Theory of Computation, Prentice-Hall, 1981: Chapters 1--3.
• Michael Sipser, Introduction to the Theory of Computation, 1997: Chapters 1 -- 2.

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Here is a diagram of the world of computability and complexity: