Starting from Gödel's 1956 letter gives P vs NP the right philosophical weight: it was never just a puzzle about runtimes, it was a question about the nature of mathematical creativity itself.
If finding proofs were polynomial-time, then the difference between recognizing truth and discovering it would collapse in a profound way. That is such a beautiful way to motivate NP.
The progression is also elegant: computability -> time complexity -> P -> NP -> NP-completeness -> barriers -> Williams.
If finding proofs were polynomial-time, then the difference between recognizing truth and discovering it would collapse in a profound way. That is such a beautiful way to motivate NP.
The progression is also elegant: computability -> time complexity -> P -> NP -> NP-completeness -> barriers -> Williams.