Boolean Functions and Computation Models by Peter Clote

Boolean Functions and Computation Models by Peter Clote

The foundations of computational complexity theory go back to Alan Thring in the 1930s who was concerned with the existence of automatic procedures deciding the validity of mathematical statements. The first example of such a problem was the undecidability of the Halting Problem which is essentially the question of debugging a computer program: Will a given program eventu­ ally halt? Computational complexity today addresses the quantitative aspects of the solutions obtained: Is the problem to be solved tractable? But how does one measure the intractability of computation? Several ideas were proposed: A. Cobham [Cob65] raised the question of what is the right model in order to measure a "computation step" , M. Rabin [Rab60] proposed the introduction of axioms that a complexity measure should satisfy, and C. Shannon [Sha49] suggested the boolean circuit that computes a boolean function. However, an important question remains: What is the nature of computa­ tion? In 1957, John von Neumann [vN58] wrote in his notes for the Silliman Lectures concerning the nature of computation and the human brain that . . . logics and statistics should be primarily, although not exclusively, viewed as the basic tools of 'information theory'. Also, that body of experience which has grown up around the planning, evaluating, and coding of complicated logical and mathematical automata will be the focus of much of this information theory. The most typical, but not the only, such automata are, of course, the large electronic computing machines.

From the reviews:

"The monograph gives the most recent and complete description of lower bounds for depth-restricted circuits, and propositional proof systems… the authors present a research monograph on important subjects and provide many very recent results. I would recommend it for any university library and also for researchers." (Ingo Wegener, The Computer Journal, Vol. 46 (3), 2003)

Michel Barbeau is Professor in the School of Computer Science at Carleton University, Canada. His topics of interest are Telecommunications Software and Distributed Systems, Mobile and Wireless Networks, Satellite Communications and Wireless Security. Michel is on the editorial board of the Engineering Letters of the International Association of Engineers, and has been a co-chair and programme committee member of a number of scientific conferences. Since 2003, he has led a major research project entitled Complex Adaptive Networks for Computing and Communication in the MITACS (Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems) NCE (Networks of Centers of Excellence).

Evangelos Kranakis is Professor in the School of Computer Science at Carleton University, which he joined in 1991. He is currently CNS (Communication, Networks, and Security) Theme Leader in the MITACS NCE. He has published in the area of the analysis of algorithms, bioinformatics, communication and data (ad hoc and wireless) networks, computational and combinatorial geometry, distributed computing, network security.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9783540594369
ISBN 10	3540594361
Title	Boolean Functions and Computation Models
Author	Peter Clote
Series	Texts In Theoretical Computer Science An Eatcs Series
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Springer-Verlag Berlin and Heidelberg GmbH & Co. KG
Year published	2002-09-19
Number of pages	602
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.