154: Natural Habitat
Orbz Twenty: Part XV
The first result, 125,773.181 is, of course 42 ^ pi. The second is there, both question and answer. The third, namely a proof of P = NP, is pretty much the fundamental joke here. P = NP is many things, among them is the fact that that particular mathematical problem is widely considered unsolvable (or, at least, many people have been trying for quite some time and have not come up with an answer yet).
From Wikipedia:
In essence, the question P = NP? asks: If 'yes'-answers to a 'yes'-or'no'-question can be verified "quickly" (in polynomial time), can the answers themselves also be computed quickly?
Back to me:
An analogy might be easier to grasp: take a relatively simple puzzle. There are thousands of possible combinations of pieces, and perhaps millions of total combinations. To deduce the correct positions for each piece would, therefore, be a ridiculously complex process. It only takes one glance, though, to tell whether or not the puzzle is done correctly. Thus, in this case, P =/= NP: the the puzzle can be verified quickly, but the answer can't be computed with anything close to the same speed. |
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