(definition)
Definition: A model of computation proposed by A. K. Chandra, L. Stockmeyere, and D. Kozen, which has two kinds of states, AND and OR. The definition of accepting computation is adjusted accordingly.
See also time/space complexity, Turing machine.
Note: First proposed as a model for parallel computation, it has been widely used to prove complexity bounds on problems.
Author: SKS
A. K. Chandra and L. J. Stockmeyer, Alternation, pages 98-108, and D. Kozen, On Parallelism in Turing Machines, pages 89-97, both in Proc. Seventeenth Annual IEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science, 1976.
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Entry modified Wed Dec 14 08:57:58 2005.
HTML page formatted Wed Dec 14 09:45:33 2005.
Cite this as:
Sandeep Kumar Shukla, "alternation", from
Dictionary of Algorithms and Data
Structures, Paul E. Black, ed.,
NIST.
http://www.nist.gov/dads/HTML/alternation.html
