Chapter 5. Algorithms and Complexity
Steve Kass
This chapter contains a brief introduction to a central topic in computer science: algorithms and complexity. In theory, modern computers can solve nearly any problem that can be expressed precisely. In practice, however, we encounter two considerable obstacles: No computer can solve problems without valid strategies or methods for solving them, and valid problem-solving strategies and methods are useful only if they yield answers within a reasonable amount of time.
Strategies and methods for solving particular problems, given arbitrary input, are called algorithms. The computational complexity of a problem-solving algorithm measures the way in which the resources needed to execute the algorithm depend ...
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