Skip to main content

The Class P

This video presents the same text shown beside it, spoken and on screen. It adds nothing the text does not say.

State

The polynomial time class, P, holds every problem with an algorithm whose runtime is a polynomial expression — O(1), O(log N), O(N), O(N log N), O(N squared) — the field's meaning of tractable.

Show

Searching, sorting, hashing, traversal, spanning trees, shortest paths all ride here.

Watch for

Polynomial is the boundary, not fast.