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The complexity of satisfiability problems

Thomas J. Schaefer

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Abstract

The problem of deciding whether a given propositional formula in conjunctive normal form is satisfiable has been widely studied. I t is known that, when restricted to formulas having only two literals per clause, this problem has an efficient (polynomial-time) solution. But the same problem on formulas having three literals per clause is NP-complete, and hence probably does not have any efficient solution.

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What this paper is about

The problem of deciding whether a given propositional formula in conjunctive normal form is satisfiable has been widely studied. I t is known that, when restricted to formulas having only two literals per clause, this problem has an efficient (polynomial-time) solution. But the same problem on formulas having three literals per clause is NP-complete, and hence probably does not have any efficient solution.

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Available abstract

The problem of deciding whether a given propositional formula in conjunctive normal form is satisfiable has been widely studied. I t is known that, when restricted to formulas having only two literals per clause, this problem has an efficient (polynomial-time) solution. But the same problem on formulas having three literals per clause is NP-complete, and hence probably does not have any efficient solution.

Key concepts: Conjunctive normal form, Satisfiability, Boolean satisfiability problem, Time complexity, Computational complexity theory, Mathematics, True quantified Boolean formula, Propositional formula

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