ADA " Given a class of algorithms for solving a particular problem, a lower bound indicates the best possible

efficiency any algorithm from this class can have. " A trivial lower bound is based on counting the number of items in the problem's input that must be processed and the number of output items that need to be produced. " An information-theoretic lower bound is usually obtained through a mechanism of decision trees. This technique is particularly useful for comparisonbased algorithms for sorting and searching. Specifically: - Any general comparison-based sorting algorithm must perform at least [log2 n !l =(*approximately)n 1og2 n key comparisons in the worst case. - Any general comparison-based algorithm for searching a sorted array must perform at least [log2 n+1)] key comparisons in the worst case. II The adversary method for establishing lower bounds is based on following the logic of a malevolent adversary who pushes the algorithm into the most time-consuming path. " A lower bound can also be established by reduction, i.e., by reducing a problem with a known lower bound to the problem in question. " Complexity theory seeks to classify problems according to their computational complexity. The principal split is between tractable and intractable problems, problems that can and cannot be solved in polynomial time, respectively. For purely technical reasons, complexity, theory concentrates on decision problems, which are problems with yes/no answers.,. The halting problem is an example of an undecidable decision problem; i.e., it cannot be solved by any algorithm.
" P is the class of all decision problems that can be solved in polynomial time. NP is the class of all

decision problems whose randomly guessed solutions can be verified in polynomial time. " Many important problems in NP (such as the Hamiltonian circuit problem) are known to be NP -complete: all other problems in NP are reducible to such a problem in polynomial time. The first proof of a problem's NP-completenesswas published by S. Cook for the CN F-satisfiability problem.
" It is not known whether P = NP or P is just a proper subset of NP. This question is the most important unresolved issue in theoretical computer science. A discovery of a polynomial-time algorithm for any of the thousands known NP-complete problems would imply that P = NP.

BACKTRACKNG AND BRANCH BOUND " Backtracking and branch-and-bound are two algorithm design techniques for solving problems in which the number of choices grows at least exponentially with their instance size. Both techniques construct a
solution one component at a time, trying to terminate the process as soon as one can ascertain that no

solution can be obtained as a result of the choices already made. This approach makes it possible to solve many large instances of NP-hard problems in an acceptable amount of time. " Both backtracking and branch-and-bound employ, as their principal mechanism, a state-space tree-a rooted tree' whose nodes represent partially constructed solutions to the problem in question. Both techniques terminate a node as soon as it can he guaranteed that no solution to the problem can be obtained by considering choices that correspond to the node's descendants. " Backtracking constructs its state-space tree in the depth-first search fashion in the majority of its applications. If the sequence of choices represented by a current node of the state-space tree can be developed further without violating the problem's constraints, it is done by considering the first remaining legitimate option for the next component. Otherwise, the method backtracks by undoing the last component of the partially built solution and replaces it by the next alternative. " Branch-and-bound is an algorithm design technique that enhances the idea of generating a state-space tree with the idea of estimating the best value obtainable from a current node of the decision tree: if such an estimate is not superior to the best solution seen up to that point in the processing, the node is eliminated
from further consideration.