NIST

complexity class

(definition)

Definition: Any of a set of computational problems with the same bounds (Θ(n)) on time and space, for deterministic and nondeterministic machines.

Specialization (... is a kind of me.)
P, NP, NP-complete, NP-hard, BPP, canonical complexity class.

Aggregate child (... is a part of or used in me.)
Turing machine.

See also big-O notation.

Note: From Algorithms and Theory of Computation Handbook, page 27-2, Copyright © 1999 by CRC Press LLC. Appearing in the Dictionary of Computer Science, Engineering and Technology, Copyright © 2000 CRC Press LLC.

Author: CRC-A

More information

Scott Aaronson's Complexity Zoo


Go to the Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures home page.

If you have suggestions, corrections, or comments, please get in touch with Paul Black.

Entry modified 9 September 2013.
HTML page formatted Mon Feb 2 13:10:39 2015.

Cite this as:
Algorithms and Theory of Computation Handbook, CRC Press LLC, 1999, "complexity class", in Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures [online], Vreda Pieterse and Paul E. Black, eds. 9 September 2013. (accessed TODAY) Available from: http://www.nist.gov/dads/HTML/complexityClass.html