Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-computer-science-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2015/computational-complexity/2/a/solution

Writing as P and as co-P, the known relationships among the four complexity classes are
The equality supplies both inclusions between P and co-P, and it also gives co-P NP and co-P co-NP.
For the equality, a deterministic polynomial-time algorithm halts on every input; interchange its accepting and rejecting outcomes to decide the complement of a set in the same polynomial time. For P NP, a Nondeterministic Turing machine can simply make no choices and follow the deterministic computation. Finally, if , then , whence by the definition of co-NP.
Neither NP co-NP nor co-NP NP is known; either would imply equality by taking complements. Nor is either inclusion of P into NP or co-NP known to be strict. These unresolved relationships must not be presented as strict separations.

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