Circuit size class 2026-10-07
The languages whose length- indicator functions have Boolean circuits with at most gates for sufficiently large , over a fixed bounded-fan-in complete basis. The family need not be constructible by one algorithm. Polynomial-size bounds give P/poly; the truth-table upper bound for circuit size applies even to undecidable languages.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 59 3 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
For each fixed input length, take the complete truth table of the language. For every accepted string , form the mintermAn OR of these minterms equals the indicator function, since precisely at . This is the truth-table upper bound for circuit size.
Generate the negated input wires once and share them. With accepted strings, use at most binary AND gates and binary OR gates, besides the negations. Empty truth tables use a constant-zero Boolean circuit; length zero is handled by a constant Boolean circuit. ThusThis is an existence bound for a nonuniform circuit family, even when the language is undecidable. It supplies no algorithm for computing the truth tables of an arbitrary language.