NIST

Kolmogorov complexity

(definition)

Definition: The minimum number of bits into which a string can be compressed without losing information. This is defined with respect to a fixed, but universal decompression scheme, given by a universal Turing machine.

See also incompressible string.

Note: From Algorithms and Theory of Computation Handbook, page 29-20, 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

Special issue of the Computer Journal on Kolmogorov Complexity (1999). Tributes to, pictures of, bibliography of, etc. Andrei Nikolaevich Kolmogorov.


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Entry modified 7 February 2005.
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Cite this as:
Algorithms and Theory of Computation Handbook, CRC Press LLC, 1999, "Kolmogorov complexity", in Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures [online], Vreda Pieterse and Paul E. Black, eds. 7 February 2005. (accessed TODAY) Available from: http://www.nist.gov/dads/HTML/kolmogorov.html