The Nature of Computation 1st Edition

by Cristopher Moore (Author), Stephan Mertens (Author)

16 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0199233212

ISBN-10: 0199233217

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Computational complexity is one of the most beautiful fields of modern mathematics, and it is increasingly relevant to other sciences ranging from physics to biology. But this beauty is often buried underneath layers of unnecessary formalism, and exciting recent results like interactive proofs, cryptography, and quantum computing are usually considered too "advanced" to show to the typical student. The aim of this book is to bridge both gaps by explaining the deep ideas of theoretical computer science in a clear and enjoyable fashion, making them accessible to non computer scientists and to computer scientists who finally want to understand what their formalisms are actually telling.

This book gives a lucid and playful explanation of the field, starting with P and NP-completeness. The authors explain why the P vs. NP problem is so fundamental, and why it is so hard to resolve. They then lead the reader through the complexity of mazes and games; optimization in theory and practice; randomized algorithms, interactive proofs, and pseudorandomness; Markov chains and phase transitions; and the outer reaches of quantum computing.

At every turn, they use a minimum of formalism, providing explanations that are both deep and accessible. The book is intended for graduates and undergraduates, scientists from other areas who have long wanted to understand this subject, and experts who want to fall in love with this field all over again.

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The Nature of Computation

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Product Details

Hardcover: 985 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press; 1 edition (October 9, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0199233217
ISBN-13: 978-0199233212
Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 2.3 x 7.7 inches
Shipping Weight: 5.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #507,502 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #230 in Books > Science & Math > Chemistry > Physical & Theoretical
- #616 in Books > Computers & Technology > Computer Science > AI & Machine Learning
- #1064 in Books > Textbooks > Science & Mathematics > Chemistry

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Beautiful encyclopedic book

ByJosep Diazon January 22, 2012

Format: Hardcover

This is a beautiful encyclopedic book, which covers a large range of topics from Theoretical Computer Science. The style favors intuition and clarity over technical details. Chapters 4 to 8 can be used as a textbook for an undergraduate complexity course. For computer science and mathematics students the book has the great advantage of examples from the physics world... the more advanced material can be easily used for graduate courses or seminars. For example, Chapters 12, 13 and 14 by themselves could be a perfect basic text for an advanced course in probabilistic methods in computer science and discrete mathematics. I hope future readers enjoy the book as much as I did.
(See longer review at Computer Science Reviews 5 (2011) 341.)

11 comment 15 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Best theory of computation book ever!

ByM. Villagraon March 22, 2012

Format: Hardcover

There are fantastic books all over theoretical computer science on the same subjects. But this one, I find it simply the best of all of them. Why? Because it explains what really computer science is about, which is computation as the object of study, and it does so in such a friendly manner and accessible to mathematicians, physicists and (of course) computer scientists of all levels. In the preface of the book explicitly says so, the objective of this book is to show why computational complexity is such a beautiful field with beautiful mathematics, without going too much deeper into the technicalities. Even though they omit the gruesome details, I felt that the understanding gained from reading the book was enough to look at the references and go directly to the papers. Thus, at the same time, this book presents a full review of all computational complexity theory. Also, the problems at the end of each chapter are very fun, and they make the reader gain a deeper understanding of the chapter and other subjects that were not covered. The notes section after each problem set are full of anecdotes and historical remarks that makes the reading experience even more wonderful.

0Comment 10 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Headmelting

ByDan MacKinlayon August 22, 2012

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This book starts with high-school mathematics and takes you all the way through the amazing architecture of mathematical problems themselves. It's encyclopaedia-length, but light and readable in style all the way through, sprinkled with liberal references to Lewis Carroll, Douglas Hofstadter and various other cult favourites of the literate mathnerd. That is, this exemplifies everything good about mathematical texts. Amazing.

For background, I am a mathematics major, but I had almost no exposure to computational complexity theory before starting this book apart from, say, the awareness that matrix inversion is approximately O(n^3)

0Comment 9 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

This book is an absolute gem!

ByK. Kimon July 24, 2015

Format: Hardcover

This book is an absolute gem! My colleagues and I will be using it to introduce the foundations underlying theoretical computer science for a course on quantum computation at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Although most of the students (and teachers!) in the class are physicists with a minimal background in the theory of computation, this work is so beautifully written and designed for both newcomers and experts alike. We tried using several textbooks, including the classic by Sipser, to get up to speed on the fundamentals of computational complexity, but nothing comes close to the clarity and depth of this work by Moore and Mertens. The chapters on NP completeness and P vs. NP are among the best presentations that we've seen. The writing is absolutely elegant and insightful. The problems are wonderfully crafted and creative. Reading this book has been such a great experience for me; I finally understand many of the subtle concepts and the unity of ideas that have eluded me before. We feel that this work will quickly become the standard reference in the field.

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fantastic at every level

ByMatt Ginsbergon July 27, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This is a terrific book. The contents are great, and exposition is great, the problems are great, and the notes at the end of each chapter are great. The bibliography is extensive and terrific. Probably the single nicest thing about the book is that the authors' enthusiasm for the subject really shines through.

I have no idea if the kindle version is good or bad; there are enough formulae and diagrams that it might suffer.

One note: I originally gave this book 4 stars because the binding broke as soon as I opened it (and it eventually fell apart completely!). Both the author and the publisher were absolutely awesome about getting me a replacement where the binding is clearly much better, so if you have this problem as well, reach out to OUP.

All told, a fantastic addition to the complexity literature.

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Without a doubt the best CS theory book i've encountered

ByAaron Gonzaleson February 17, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Without a doubt the best CS theory book i've encountered. Moore and Mertens manage to convey complex topics in a fascinating way that is seldom achieved by textbooks. It's a book i'll keep around well after i'm done with the course that requires it.

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Computer science can have beauty and elegant of mathematics

ByDuyon September 6, 2016

Format: Hardcover

The authors said that, they have endeavored to write the book with the accessibility of M.Gardner, the playfulness of Hofstadter and the lyricism of Nabokov, as I am not a native English speaker, I have no idea about Nabokov's prose but I can say this book has met the first two targets and it goes further into deep insights of mathematics and our knowledge.

I was amazed by how well the book shows the beauty and elegant of computation and IMHO, only this book in the same class with SICP when they talk about our knowledge and methodology of computer science.

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Excellent so far and I expect it to be uniformly ...

ByDr. Andrew Sornborgeron February 11, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

I'm reading this (about 1/8 of the way through) for background related to complexity issues in quantum computing. Excellent so far and I expect it to be uniformly excellent, having scanned through the rest of the book. The descriptions avoid unnecessary complication and focus on the principles involved. Highly recommended.

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Five Stars

wonderful book

Published 7 days ago by Ian Thomas

beatiful book

Outstanding resource; very thorough; well argued. Could only have been written in the computer age. Huge volume.Read more

Published 1 year ago by Amazon Customer

Very challenging.. going slow through it.. ...

Very challenging .. going slow through it .. exactly what I wanted .. coming from electrical engineering background that dis-respected computer science for so many years, I have a...Read more

Published 1 year ago by scott foerster

really great

very interesting book. have only read the first five chapters and done some of the exercises, but the material engaging (and a unique take on computation).Read more

Published 1 year ago by A. Patch

Five Stars

Beautiful book on the maths of computing theory.

Published 1 year ago by Dr. Jose Cruz

Fantastic introduction to computational complexity

This book did not prove to be quite what I had expected when I purchased it, but I have greatly enjoyed it anyway.Read more

Published on January 20, 2013 by Brian Malley

The best book on computational theory

I have read several books on computational theory. The majority of these books make this amazing topic look agonizingly boring and difficult.Read more

Published on January 9, 2013 by Parisa

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