Complexity Science for Simpletons

07/05/2005

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by   Craig Alan Feinstein, et al.

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In this article, we shall describe some of the most interesting topics in the subject of Complexity Science for a general audience. Anyone with a solid foundation in high school mathematics (with some calculus) and an elementary understanding of computer programming will be able to follow this article. First, we shall explain the significance of the P versus NP problem and solve it. Next, we shall describe two other famous mathematics problems, the Collatz 3n+1 Conjecture and the Riemann Hypothesis, and show how both Chaitin's incompleteness theorem and Wolfram's notion of "computational irreducibility" are important for understanding why no one has, as of yet, solved these two problems.