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Isotopy in surface complexes from the computational viewpoint

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 April 2009

John C. Stillwell
John C. Stillwell
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria.
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Abstract

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It is shown that the problem of deciding whether a curve in a finite surface complex is isotopic to a point is NP-complete. This contrasts with the recursively enumerable (RE)-completeness of the corresponding homotopy problem, and exhibits surface complexes as a common framework for NP-complete and RE-complete algorithmic problems.

Type
Research Article
Information
Bulletin of the Australian Mathematical Society , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , January 1979 , pp. 1 - 6
Copyright
Copyright © Australian Mathematical Society 1979

References

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