Elements of the Theory of Computation

Abstract

Second editon. Lewis and Papadimitriou present this long awaited Second Edition of their best-selling theory of computation. The authors are well-known for their clear presentation that makes the material accessible to a broad audience and requires no special previous mathematical experience. In this new edition, the authors incorporate a somewhat more informal, friendly writing style to present both classical and contemporary theories of computation. Algorithms, complexity analysis, and algorithmic ideas are introduced informally in Chapter 1, and are pursued throughout the book. Each section is followed by problems. Sets, relations, and languages -- Finite automata -- Context-free languages -- Turing machines -- Undecidability -- Computational complexity -- NP-completeness.