Relation between Undecidable problems and NP-Hard
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I drew these pictures to check whether I comprehended the ideas of P, NP, NP Complete and NP Hard correctly.
And then, I realized that it is not certain where undecidable problems should be placed.
Did I draw the pictures correctly? (Are all the undecidable problems including the halting problem are NP-Hard when P=NP, and some of them are so when P≠NP?)
I asked this to professor, but he said that undecidable problems including the Halting problem are not NP Hard because they are not solvable, which is a contrast to many answers in Stack exchange.
And one more thing, when P≠NP, are there problems which are neither NP nor NP Hard? If so, are they undecidable problems too? (Highlighted with a blue line in the second picture)
complexity-theory computability undecidability np-hard
add a comment |
up vote
5
down vote
favorite


I drew these pictures to check whether I comprehended the ideas of P, NP, NP Complete and NP Hard correctly.
And then, I realized that it is not certain where undecidable problems should be placed.
Did I draw the pictures correctly? (Are all the undecidable problems including the halting problem are NP-Hard when P=NP, and some of them are so when P≠NP?)
I asked this to professor, but he said that undecidable problems including the Halting problem are not NP Hard because they are not solvable, which is a contrast to many answers in Stack exchange.
And one more thing, when P≠NP, are there problems which are neither NP nor NP Hard? If so, are they undecidable problems too? (Highlighted with a blue line in the second picture)
complexity-theory computability undecidability np-hard
For me, i ageee with your teacher. If you can't solve with Turing machine in not polinomial time, you can't prove that problems are in NP (or better in NP hard).
– theantomc
20 hours ago
1
I disagree - NP-hardness does not require the set to be decidable. I think the confusion was that NP sets (including NP-complete sets) have to be decidable.
– sdcvvc
18 hours ago
2
@theantomc NP does not, not, NOT stand for "not polynomial". Sorry to yell but that's a really important point.
– David Richerby
15 hours ago
add a comment |
up vote
5
down vote
favorite
up vote
5
down vote
favorite


I drew these pictures to check whether I comprehended the ideas of P, NP, NP Complete and NP Hard correctly.
And then, I realized that it is not certain where undecidable problems should be placed.
Did I draw the pictures correctly? (Are all the undecidable problems including the halting problem are NP-Hard when P=NP, and some of them are so when P≠NP?)
I asked this to professor, but he said that undecidable problems including the Halting problem are not NP Hard because they are not solvable, which is a contrast to many answers in Stack exchange.
And one more thing, when P≠NP, are there problems which are neither NP nor NP Hard? If so, are they undecidable problems too? (Highlighted with a blue line in the second picture)
complexity-theory computability undecidability np-hard


I drew these pictures to check whether I comprehended the ideas of P, NP, NP Complete and NP Hard correctly.
And then, I realized that it is not certain where undecidable problems should be placed.
Did I draw the pictures correctly? (Are all the undecidable problems including the halting problem are NP-Hard when P=NP, and some of them are so when P≠NP?)
I asked this to professor, but he said that undecidable problems including the Halting problem are not NP Hard because they are not solvable, which is a contrast to many answers in Stack exchange.
And one more thing, when P≠NP, are there problems which are neither NP nor NP Hard? If so, are they undecidable problems too? (Highlighted with a blue line in the second picture)
complexity-theory computability undecidability np-hard
complexity-theory computability undecidability np-hard
edited 19 hours ago
Raphael♦
57.2k23139311
57.2k23139311
asked 22 hours ago
Riddle Aaron
353
353
For me, i ageee with your teacher. If you can't solve with Turing machine in not polinomial time, you can't prove that problems are in NP (or better in NP hard).
– theantomc
20 hours ago
1
I disagree - NP-hardness does not require the set to be decidable. I think the confusion was that NP sets (including NP-complete sets) have to be decidable.
– sdcvvc
18 hours ago
2
@theantomc NP does not, not, NOT stand for "not polynomial". Sorry to yell but that's a really important point.
– David Richerby
15 hours ago
add a comment |
For me, i ageee with your teacher. If you can't solve with Turing machine in not polinomial time, you can't prove that problems are in NP (or better in NP hard).
– theantomc
20 hours ago
1
I disagree - NP-hardness does not require the set to be decidable. I think the confusion was that NP sets (including NP-complete sets) have to be decidable.
– sdcvvc
18 hours ago
2
@theantomc NP does not, not, NOT stand for "not polynomial". Sorry to yell but that's a really important point.
– David Richerby
15 hours ago
For me, i ageee with your teacher. If you can't solve with Turing machine in not polinomial time, you can't prove that problems are in NP (or better in NP hard).
– theantomc
20 hours ago
For me, i ageee with your teacher. If you can't solve with Turing machine in not polinomial time, you can't prove that problems are in NP (or better in NP hard).
– theantomc
20 hours ago
1
1
I disagree - NP-hardness does not require the set to be decidable. I think the confusion was that NP sets (including NP-complete sets) have to be decidable.
– sdcvvc
18 hours ago
I disagree - NP-hardness does not require the set to be decidable. I think the confusion was that NP sets (including NP-complete sets) have to be decidable.
– sdcvvc
18 hours ago
2
2
@theantomc NP does not, not, NOT stand for "not polynomial". Sorry to yell but that's a really important point.
– David Richerby
15 hours ago
@theantomc NP does not, not, NOT stand for "not polynomial". Sorry to yell but that's a really important point.
– David Richerby
15 hours ago
add a comment |
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
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up vote
8
down vote
accepted
I believe that this answer by Yuval Filmus all the questions you have asked.
If P=NP then any non-trivial set is NP-hard (other than the empty set and the complete set), so assume P$neq$NP. If $A$ is a set and $f_i$ reduces SAT to $A$ in polytime, then $f_i$ must have infinite range. Otherwise, we can hardcode the relevant values of $f_i$ to get a polytime algorithm for SAT.
We can construct an undecidable problem which is not NP-hard using diagonalization. Let $f_i$ be an enumeration of all polytime reductions whose range is infinite. We construct an undecidable problem $A$ such that no $f_i$ reduces SAT to $A$. We will use $K$ to denote the undecidable set corresponding to the halting problem.
The set $A$ will be defined in stages, starting with a completely undefined set. In stage $i$, we find a string $s$ such that $f_i(s)$ is longer than any string on which $A$ is defined (here we use the fact that the range of $f_i$ is infinite). We define $A$ on $f_i(s)$ so that $s in SAT$ iff $f_i(s) notin A$. After all finite stages, we complete the definition of $A$ for each undefined string $s$ by letting $s in A$ iff $|s| in K$.
By construction, no polytime $f_i$ reduces SAT to $A$, and so $A$ is not NP-hard. On the other hand, $A$ is not decidable since $K$ reduces to $A$: we can decide whether $n in K$ (for $n geq 2$) by taking a majority of three strings of length $n$.
To summarize,
- Halting problem is NP-hard.
- If $Pne NP$, not all undecidable problems are NP-hard.
- If $P = NP$, all non-trivial sets are NP-hard.
The original answer had not addressed the last part of your question, namely, are there problems which are neither NP nor NP Hard? I will be lazy again and quote another answer, this time by Peter Shor.
There is a problem which is both NP-hard and in coNP if and only if NP = coNP.
If NP = coNP, than NP-complete problems (like 3-SAT) are both NP-hard and in coNP.
On the other hand, if any NP-hard problem is in coNP, then all problems in NP are reducible to it, so all problems in NP are in coNP so NP ⊆ coNP. Now, since the complement of NP is coNP, and vice versa, we also have coNP ⊆ NP. This means NP = coNP.
The question of whether NP = coNP is open, but most theoretical computer scientists do not think it is very likely.
So, assuming $NP ne coNP$, there exist problems that are decidable but neither in NP nor NP-hard. Note that we don't know that $NP = coNP$ implies $P = NP$. So this is a stronger assumption than the one you had suggested ($P ne NP$).
1
+1, I'd like to add that point 1 holds under the normal binary encoding of the halting problem; the unary encoding is not NP-hard, unless P=NP.
– sdcvvc
18 hours ago
"not all undecidable problems are NP-hard" means that there are some undecidable problems are not in NP-hard, and that means P≠NP because if P=NP, all problems are NP-hard. So I think that we do not know whether "not all undecidable problems are NP-hard" before we solve P-NP problem. Am I correct?
– Riddle Aaron
18 hours ago
@RiddleAaron That sounds right.
– Alex Smart
18 hours ago
add a comment |
up vote
2
down vote
NP-Hard means "at least as hard as the hardest problems in NP"! Hence, all the problems such as halting problem which is not decidable, is in NP-Hard but not in NP. See this page.

There are decision problems that are NP-hard but not NP-complete, for example the halting problem.
1
Those images make it seem like there are problems outside of both NP and NP-Hard, which is where OP's confusion comes from I think.
– BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft
15 hours ago
add a comment |
up vote
2
down vote
Your second diagram seems to be claiming that (assuming $mathrm{P}=mathrm{NP}$), every $mathrm{NP}$-hard problem that is not $mathrm{NP}$-complete is undecidable. That's certainly not true. For example, by the time hierarchy theorem, we know that $mathrm{NEXP}supsetneqmathrm{NP}$. $mathrm{NEXP}$ is a set of decidable problems and it contains $mathrm{NP}$-hard problems that are not in $mathrm{NP}$.
add a comment |
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
8
down vote
accepted
I believe that this answer by Yuval Filmus all the questions you have asked.
If P=NP then any non-trivial set is NP-hard (other than the empty set and the complete set), so assume P$neq$NP. If $A$ is a set and $f_i$ reduces SAT to $A$ in polytime, then $f_i$ must have infinite range. Otherwise, we can hardcode the relevant values of $f_i$ to get a polytime algorithm for SAT.
We can construct an undecidable problem which is not NP-hard using diagonalization. Let $f_i$ be an enumeration of all polytime reductions whose range is infinite. We construct an undecidable problem $A$ such that no $f_i$ reduces SAT to $A$. We will use $K$ to denote the undecidable set corresponding to the halting problem.
The set $A$ will be defined in stages, starting with a completely undefined set. In stage $i$, we find a string $s$ such that $f_i(s)$ is longer than any string on which $A$ is defined (here we use the fact that the range of $f_i$ is infinite). We define $A$ on $f_i(s)$ so that $s in SAT$ iff $f_i(s) notin A$. After all finite stages, we complete the definition of $A$ for each undefined string $s$ by letting $s in A$ iff $|s| in K$.
By construction, no polytime $f_i$ reduces SAT to $A$, and so $A$ is not NP-hard. On the other hand, $A$ is not decidable since $K$ reduces to $A$: we can decide whether $n in K$ (for $n geq 2$) by taking a majority of three strings of length $n$.
To summarize,
- Halting problem is NP-hard.
- If $Pne NP$, not all undecidable problems are NP-hard.
- If $P = NP$, all non-trivial sets are NP-hard.
The original answer had not addressed the last part of your question, namely, are there problems which are neither NP nor NP Hard? I will be lazy again and quote another answer, this time by Peter Shor.
There is a problem which is both NP-hard and in coNP if and only if NP = coNP.
If NP = coNP, than NP-complete problems (like 3-SAT) are both NP-hard and in coNP.
On the other hand, if any NP-hard problem is in coNP, then all problems in NP are reducible to it, so all problems in NP are in coNP so NP ⊆ coNP. Now, since the complement of NP is coNP, and vice versa, we also have coNP ⊆ NP. This means NP = coNP.
The question of whether NP = coNP is open, but most theoretical computer scientists do not think it is very likely.
So, assuming $NP ne coNP$, there exist problems that are decidable but neither in NP nor NP-hard. Note that we don't know that $NP = coNP$ implies $P = NP$. So this is a stronger assumption than the one you had suggested ($P ne NP$).
1
+1, I'd like to add that point 1 holds under the normal binary encoding of the halting problem; the unary encoding is not NP-hard, unless P=NP.
– sdcvvc
18 hours ago
"not all undecidable problems are NP-hard" means that there are some undecidable problems are not in NP-hard, and that means P≠NP because if P=NP, all problems are NP-hard. So I think that we do not know whether "not all undecidable problems are NP-hard" before we solve P-NP problem. Am I correct?
– Riddle Aaron
18 hours ago
@RiddleAaron That sounds right.
– Alex Smart
18 hours ago
add a comment |
up vote
8
down vote
accepted
I believe that this answer by Yuval Filmus all the questions you have asked.
If P=NP then any non-trivial set is NP-hard (other than the empty set and the complete set), so assume P$neq$NP. If $A$ is a set and $f_i$ reduces SAT to $A$ in polytime, then $f_i$ must have infinite range. Otherwise, we can hardcode the relevant values of $f_i$ to get a polytime algorithm for SAT.
We can construct an undecidable problem which is not NP-hard using diagonalization. Let $f_i$ be an enumeration of all polytime reductions whose range is infinite. We construct an undecidable problem $A$ such that no $f_i$ reduces SAT to $A$. We will use $K$ to denote the undecidable set corresponding to the halting problem.
The set $A$ will be defined in stages, starting with a completely undefined set. In stage $i$, we find a string $s$ such that $f_i(s)$ is longer than any string on which $A$ is defined (here we use the fact that the range of $f_i$ is infinite). We define $A$ on $f_i(s)$ so that $s in SAT$ iff $f_i(s) notin A$. After all finite stages, we complete the definition of $A$ for each undefined string $s$ by letting $s in A$ iff $|s| in K$.
By construction, no polytime $f_i$ reduces SAT to $A$, and so $A$ is not NP-hard. On the other hand, $A$ is not decidable since $K$ reduces to $A$: we can decide whether $n in K$ (for $n geq 2$) by taking a majority of three strings of length $n$.
To summarize,
- Halting problem is NP-hard.
- If $Pne NP$, not all undecidable problems are NP-hard.
- If $P = NP$, all non-trivial sets are NP-hard.
The original answer had not addressed the last part of your question, namely, are there problems which are neither NP nor NP Hard? I will be lazy again and quote another answer, this time by Peter Shor.
There is a problem which is both NP-hard and in coNP if and only if NP = coNP.
If NP = coNP, than NP-complete problems (like 3-SAT) are both NP-hard and in coNP.
On the other hand, if any NP-hard problem is in coNP, then all problems in NP are reducible to it, so all problems in NP are in coNP so NP ⊆ coNP. Now, since the complement of NP is coNP, and vice versa, we also have coNP ⊆ NP. This means NP = coNP.
The question of whether NP = coNP is open, but most theoretical computer scientists do not think it is very likely.
So, assuming $NP ne coNP$, there exist problems that are decidable but neither in NP nor NP-hard. Note that we don't know that $NP = coNP$ implies $P = NP$. So this is a stronger assumption than the one you had suggested ($P ne NP$).
1
+1, I'd like to add that point 1 holds under the normal binary encoding of the halting problem; the unary encoding is not NP-hard, unless P=NP.
– sdcvvc
18 hours ago
"not all undecidable problems are NP-hard" means that there are some undecidable problems are not in NP-hard, and that means P≠NP because if P=NP, all problems are NP-hard. So I think that we do not know whether "not all undecidable problems are NP-hard" before we solve P-NP problem. Am I correct?
– Riddle Aaron
18 hours ago
@RiddleAaron That sounds right.
– Alex Smart
18 hours ago
add a comment |
up vote
8
down vote
accepted
up vote
8
down vote
accepted
I believe that this answer by Yuval Filmus all the questions you have asked.
If P=NP then any non-trivial set is NP-hard (other than the empty set and the complete set), so assume P$neq$NP. If $A$ is a set and $f_i$ reduces SAT to $A$ in polytime, then $f_i$ must have infinite range. Otherwise, we can hardcode the relevant values of $f_i$ to get a polytime algorithm for SAT.
We can construct an undecidable problem which is not NP-hard using diagonalization. Let $f_i$ be an enumeration of all polytime reductions whose range is infinite. We construct an undecidable problem $A$ such that no $f_i$ reduces SAT to $A$. We will use $K$ to denote the undecidable set corresponding to the halting problem.
The set $A$ will be defined in stages, starting with a completely undefined set. In stage $i$, we find a string $s$ such that $f_i(s)$ is longer than any string on which $A$ is defined (here we use the fact that the range of $f_i$ is infinite). We define $A$ on $f_i(s)$ so that $s in SAT$ iff $f_i(s) notin A$. After all finite stages, we complete the definition of $A$ for each undefined string $s$ by letting $s in A$ iff $|s| in K$.
By construction, no polytime $f_i$ reduces SAT to $A$, and so $A$ is not NP-hard. On the other hand, $A$ is not decidable since $K$ reduces to $A$: we can decide whether $n in K$ (for $n geq 2$) by taking a majority of three strings of length $n$.
To summarize,
- Halting problem is NP-hard.
- If $Pne NP$, not all undecidable problems are NP-hard.
- If $P = NP$, all non-trivial sets are NP-hard.
The original answer had not addressed the last part of your question, namely, are there problems which are neither NP nor NP Hard? I will be lazy again and quote another answer, this time by Peter Shor.
There is a problem which is both NP-hard and in coNP if and only if NP = coNP.
If NP = coNP, than NP-complete problems (like 3-SAT) are both NP-hard and in coNP.
On the other hand, if any NP-hard problem is in coNP, then all problems in NP are reducible to it, so all problems in NP are in coNP so NP ⊆ coNP. Now, since the complement of NP is coNP, and vice versa, we also have coNP ⊆ NP. This means NP = coNP.
The question of whether NP = coNP is open, but most theoretical computer scientists do not think it is very likely.
So, assuming $NP ne coNP$, there exist problems that are decidable but neither in NP nor NP-hard. Note that we don't know that $NP = coNP$ implies $P = NP$. So this is a stronger assumption than the one you had suggested ($P ne NP$).
I believe that this answer by Yuval Filmus all the questions you have asked.
If P=NP then any non-trivial set is NP-hard (other than the empty set and the complete set), so assume P$neq$NP. If $A$ is a set and $f_i$ reduces SAT to $A$ in polytime, then $f_i$ must have infinite range. Otherwise, we can hardcode the relevant values of $f_i$ to get a polytime algorithm for SAT.
We can construct an undecidable problem which is not NP-hard using diagonalization. Let $f_i$ be an enumeration of all polytime reductions whose range is infinite. We construct an undecidable problem $A$ such that no $f_i$ reduces SAT to $A$. We will use $K$ to denote the undecidable set corresponding to the halting problem.
The set $A$ will be defined in stages, starting with a completely undefined set. In stage $i$, we find a string $s$ such that $f_i(s)$ is longer than any string on which $A$ is defined (here we use the fact that the range of $f_i$ is infinite). We define $A$ on $f_i(s)$ so that $s in SAT$ iff $f_i(s) notin A$. After all finite stages, we complete the definition of $A$ for each undefined string $s$ by letting $s in A$ iff $|s| in K$.
By construction, no polytime $f_i$ reduces SAT to $A$, and so $A$ is not NP-hard. On the other hand, $A$ is not decidable since $K$ reduces to $A$: we can decide whether $n in K$ (for $n geq 2$) by taking a majority of three strings of length $n$.
To summarize,
- Halting problem is NP-hard.
- If $Pne NP$, not all undecidable problems are NP-hard.
- If $P = NP$, all non-trivial sets are NP-hard.
The original answer had not addressed the last part of your question, namely, are there problems which are neither NP nor NP Hard? I will be lazy again and quote another answer, this time by Peter Shor.
There is a problem which is both NP-hard and in coNP if and only if NP = coNP.
If NP = coNP, than NP-complete problems (like 3-SAT) are both NP-hard and in coNP.
On the other hand, if any NP-hard problem is in coNP, then all problems in NP are reducible to it, so all problems in NP are in coNP so NP ⊆ coNP. Now, since the complement of NP is coNP, and vice versa, we also have coNP ⊆ NP. This means NP = coNP.
The question of whether NP = coNP is open, but most theoretical computer scientists do not think it is very likely.
So, assuming $NP ne coNP$, there exist problems that are decidable but neither in NP nor NP-hard. Note that we don't know that $NP = coNP$ implies $P = NP$. So this is a stronger assumption than the one you had suggested ($P ne NP$).
edited 12 hours ago
answered 18 hours ago
Alex Smart
1265
1265
1
+1, I'd like to add that point 1 holds under the normal binary encoding of the halting problem; the unary encoding is not NP-hard, unless P=NP.
– sdcvvc
18 hours ago
"not all undecidable problems are NP-hard" means that there are some undecidable problems are not in NP-hard, and that means P≠NP because if P=NP, all problems are NP-hard. So I think that we do not know whether "not all undecidable problems are NP-hard" before we solve P-NP problem. Am I correct?
– Riddle Aaron
18 hours ago
@RiddleAaron That sounds right.
– Alex Smart
18 hours ago
add a comment |
1
+1, I'd like to add that point 1 holds under the normal binary encoding of the halting problem; the unary encoding is not NP-hard, unless P=NP.
– sdcvvc
18 hours ago
"not all undecidable problems are NP-hard" means that there are some undecidable problems are not in NP-hard, and that means P≠NP because if P=NP, all problems are NP-hard. So I think that we do not know whether "not all undecidable problems are NP-hard" before we solve P-NP problem. Am I correct?
– Riddle Aaron
18 hours ago
@RiddleAaron That sounds right.
– Alex Smart
18 hours ago
1
1
+1, I'd like to add that point 1 holds under the normal binary encoding of the halting problem; the unary encoding is not NP-hard, unless P=NP.
– sdcvvc
18 hours ago
+1, I'd like to add that point 1 holds under the normal binary encoding of the halting problem; the unary encoding is not NP-hard, unless P=NP.
– sdcvvc
18 hours ago
"not all undecidable problems are NP-hard" means that there are some undecidable problems are not in NP-hard, and that means P≠NP because if P=NP, all problems are NP-hard. So I think that we do not know whether "not all undecidable problems are NP-hard" before we solve P-NP problem. Am I correct?
– Riddle Aaron
18 hours ago
"not all undecidable problems are NP-hard" means that there are some undecidable problems are not in NP-hard, and that means P≠NP because if P=NP, all problems are NP-hard. So I think that we do not know whether "not all undecidable problems are NP-hard" before we solve P-NP problem. Am I correct?
– Riddle Aaron
18 hours ago
@RiddleAaron That sounds right.
– Alex Smart
18 hours ago
@RiddleAaron That sounds right.
– Alex Smart
18 hours ago
add a comment |
up vote
2
down vote
NP-Hard means "at least as hard as the hardest problems in NP"! Hence, all the problems such as halting problem which is not decidable, is in NP-Hard but not in NP. See this page.

There are decision problems that are NP-hard but not NP-complete, for example the halting problem.
1
Those images make it seem like there are problems outside of both NP and NP-Hard, which is where OP's confusion comes from I think.
– BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft
15 hours ago
add a comment |
up vote
2
down vote
NP-Hard means "at least as hard as the hardest problems in NP"! Hence, all the problems such as halting problem which is not decidable, is in NP-Hard but not in NP. See this page.

There are decision problems that are NP-hard but not NP-complete, for example the halting problem.
1
Those images make it seem like there are problems outside of both NP and NP-Hard, which is where OP's confusion comes from I think.
– BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft
15 hours ago
add a comment |
up vote
2
down vote
up vote
2
down vote
NP-Hard means "at least as hard as the hardest problems in NP"! Hence, all the problems such as halting problem which is not decidable, is in NP-Hard but not in NP. See this page.

There are decision problems that are NP-hard but not NP-complete, for example the halting problem.
NP-Hard means "at least as hard as the hardest problems in NP"! Hence, all the problems such as halting problem which is not decidable, is in NP-Hard but not in NP. See this page.

There are decision problems that are NP-hard but not NP-complete, for example the halting problem.
answered 20 hours ago
OmG
1,298412
1,298412
1
Those images make it seem like there are problems outside of both NP and NP-Hard, which is where OP's confusion comes from I think.
– BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft
15 hours ago
add a comment |
1
Those images make it seem like there are problems outside of both NP and NP-Hard, which is where OP's confusion comes from I think.
– BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft
15 hours ago
1
1
Those images make it seem like there are problems outside of both NP and NP-Hard, which is where OP's confusion comes from I think.
– BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft
15 hours ago
Those images make it seem like there are problems outside of both NP and NP-Hard, which is where OP's confusion comes from I think.
– BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft
15 hours ago
add a comment |
up vote
2
down vote
Your second diagram seems to be claiming that (assuming $mathrm{P}=mathrm{NP}$), every $mathrm{NP}$-hard problem that is not $mathrm{NP}$-complete is undecidable. That's certainly not true. For example, by the time hierarchy theorem, we know that $mathrm{NEXP}supsetneqmathrm{NP}$. $mathrm{NEXP}$ is a set of decidable problems and it contains $mathrm{NP}$-hard problems that are not in $mathrm{NP}$.
add a comment |
up vote
2
down vote
Your second diagram seems to be claiming that (assuming $mathrm{P}=mathrm{NP}$), every $mathrm{NP}$-hard problem that is not $mathrm{NP}$-complete is undecidable. That's certainly not true. For example, by the time hierarchy theorem, we know that $mathrm{NEXP}supsetneqmathrm{NP}$. $mathrm{NEXP}$ is a set of decidable problems and it contains $mathrm{NP}$-hard problems that are not in $mathrm{NP}$.
add a comment |
up vote
2
down vote
up vote
2
down vote
Your second diagram seems to be claiming that (assuming $mathrm{P}=mathrm{NP}$), every $mathrm{NP}$-hard problem that is not $mathrm{NP}$-complete is undecidable. That's certainly not true. For example, by the time hierarchy theorem, we know that $mathrm{NEXP}supsetneqmathrm{NP}$. $mathrm{NEXP}$ is a set of decidable problems and it contains $mathrm{NP}$-hard problems that are not in $mathrm{NP}$.
Your second diagram seems to be claiming that (assuming $mathrm{P}=mathrm{NP}$), every $mathrm{NP}$-hard problem that is not $mathrm{NP}$-complete is undecidable. That's certainly not true. For example, by the time hierarchy theorem, we know that $mathrm{NEXP}supsetneqmathrm{NP}$. $mathrm{NEXP}$ is a set of decidable problems and it contains $mathrm{NP}$-hard problems that are not in $mathrm{NP}$.
answered 15 hours ago
David Richerby
65.3k1597186
65.3k1597186
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For me, i ageee with your teacher. If you can't solve with Turing machine in not polinomial time, you can't prove that problems are in NP (or better in NP hard).
– theantomc
20 hours ago
1
I disagree - NP-hardness does not require the set to be decidable. I think the confusion was that NP sets (including NP-complete sets) have to be decidable.
– sdcvvc
18 hours ago
2
@theantomc NP does not, not, NOT stand for "not polynomial". Sorry to yell but that's a really important point.
– David Richerby
15 hours ago