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BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:/NewsandEvents/Archives/2008/newsitem/2551/26-
 November-2008-Logic-Language-and-Reasoning-Seminar
 -Iris-van-Rooij-Radbout-University-Nijmegen-
DTSTAMP:20081009T000000
SUMMARY:Logic, Language and Reasoning Seminar, Iri
 s van Rooij (Radbout University Nijmegen)
ATTENDEE;ROLE=Speaker:Iris van Rooij (Radbout Univ
 ersity Nijmegen)
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Amsterdam:20081126T150000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Amsterdam:20081126T170000
LOCATION:Room 3.27, ILLC, Plantage Muidergracht 24
 , Amsterdam
DESCRIPTION:Abstract:  There are many ways in whic
 h a problem can be hard or easy. In this talk I wi
 ll focus on one such meaning: a problem is hard if
  solving it requires an excessive amount of time. 
 NP-complete - or otherwise NP-hard - problems are 
 traditionally considered to be hard in this sense.
  This notion of hardness has been playing an impor
 tant role in debates in cognitive science over the
  last decades, among them debates on the modularit
 y of mind and the heuristic nature of human ration
 ality. In these debates often claims have been mad
 e (explicitly or implicitly) about what it is that
  makes a given problem hard. Reasons that are comm
 only listed include the following: (1) optimizatio
 n is hard, (2) solving a problem exactly is hard, 
 (3) problems with large search spaces are hard. On
  the other hand, there are also claims about what 
 characterizes easy problems, including: (4) satisf
 icing is relatively easy, (5) heuristics are relat
 ively easy, and (6) approximation is relatively ea
 sy. In this talk I discuss the misleading nature o
 f these claims. Drawing on insights from complexit
 y theory, I propose an alternative way of addressi
 ng the question "What makes a problem hard (or eas
 y)?", one that recognizes that the hardness or eas
 iness of a problem often depends on a complex inte
 rplay of a problem's parameters.    For more infor
 mation, see http://staff.science.uva.nl/~szymanik/
 LLR.html
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:\n      <p>\n        
 Abstract:<br />\n        There are many ways in wh
 ich a problem can be hard or easy. In this talk I 
 will focus on one such meaning: a problem is hard 
 if solving it requires an excessive amount of time
 . NP-complete - or otherwise NP-hard - problems ar
 e traditionally considered to be hard in this sens
 e. This notion of hardness has been playing an imp
 ortant role in debates in cognitive science over t
 he last decades, among them debates on the modular
 ity of mind and the heuristic nature of human rati
 onality. In these debates often claims have been m
 ade (explicitly or implicitly) about what it is th
 at makes a given problem hard. Reasons that are co
 mmonly listed include the following: (1) optimizat
 ion is hard, (2) solving a problem exactly is hard
 , (3) problems with large search spaces are hard. 
 On the other hand, there are also claims about wha
 t characterizes easy problems, including: (4) sati
 sficing is relatively easy, (5) heuristics are rel
 atively easy, and (6) approximation is relatively 
 easy. In this talk I discuss the misleading nature
  of these claims. Drawing on insights from complex
 ity theory, I propose an alternative way of addres
 sing the question &quot;What makes a problem hard 
 (or easy)?&quot;, one that recognizes that the har
 dness or easiness of a problem often depends on a 
 complex interplay of a problem's parameters.\n    
   </p>\n    \n      <p>\n        For more informat
 ion, see\n        <a target="_blank" href="http://
 staff.science.uva.nl/~szymanik/LLR.html">http://st
 aff.science.uva.nl/~szymanik/LLR.html</a>\n      <
 /p>\n    
URL:/NewsandEvents/Archives/2008/newsitem/2551/26-
 November-2008-Logic-Language-and-Reasoning-Seminar
 -Iris-van-Rooij-Radbout-University-Nijmegen-
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR