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theory of computation

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Total cards: 13•Content version: v4•Public deck•Updated: 8/1/2026

Card preview (13)

#1
Front (Question)

define the halting problem

Back (Answer)

-the impossible creation of a program which can conclude whether or not a program will halt given its inputs and description without executing the program

#2
Front (Question)

what does the halting problem show

Back (Answer)

it shows that there are some problems which simply cannot be solved by computers

#3
Front (Question)

what is an algorithm

Back (Answer)

A sequence of steps that can be followed to complete a task and that always terminates.

#4
Front (Question)

who proved the halting program could not be done

Back (Answer)

Alan Turing

#5
Front (Question)

what did proving the halting program couldn’t be done show

Back (Answer)

this dispelled the belief that hardware was the only limit to algorithms

#6
Front (Question)

define space complexity

Back (Answer)

a measure of the amount of memory space needed by an algorithm to solve a particular problem of given input size

#7
Front (Question)

define time complexity

Back (Answer)

a measure of the amount of time needed by an algorithm to solve a particular problem of a given input size

#8
Front (Question)

what is constant time/space

Back (Answer)

O(1) an algorithm that always takes a constant amount if time or memory space to execute regardless of the input size

#9
Front (Question)

what is exponential time/space

Back (Answer)

O(2^n) an algorithm whose execution time or required memory space grows exponentially with the input size intractable- cannot be solved in a useful amount of time

#10
Front (Question)

what is the logarithmic time/space

Back (Answer)

O(log(n)) an algorithm whose execution time or required memory space grows logarithmically with input size

#11
Front (Question)

what is linear time/space

Back (Answer)

O(n) an algorithm whose execution time or required memory space is directionally proportional to the size of its input

#12
Front (Question)

what is polynomial time/space

Back (Answer)

O(n^k) an algorithm whose execution time or required memory space is proportional to the input size raised to the power of a constant(k)

#13
Front (Question)

order of complexity

Back (Answer)

constant logarithmic linear polynomial exponential