Delete comment from: Computational Complexity
Sorry if I'm off in left field here, but my impression was that most undergrads will have little to no use for most of complexity theory, seeing as how most of them will be taking jobs in industry. The major points that seem to require communicating are the halting problem and a clear understanding of P vs. NP, that is the notions that problems may be provably hard or insoluble.
It seems to me that widely used linear to cubic time algorithms, ample applications of those algorithms, and techniques and principles for devising novel algorithms and applications are much more important for most students. Probability tends to show up as a pragmatic technique (e.g. quicksort pivots) in the undergraduate curriculum, not as a complexity theoretic topic or technique. I don't imagine quantum techniques will ever find their way into the undergraduate curriculum unless they can (a) be applied to real programs and (b) there is no way to explain the resulting application without appealing to a quantum explanation.
Aug 13, 2009, 3:34:30 AM
Posted to Is Quantum the new Random ?