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Alan Turing and the Power of Negative Thinking
Mathematical proofs based on a technique called diagonalization can be relentlessly contrarian, but they help reveal the limits of algorithms.
Risky Giant Steps Can Solve Optimization Problems Faster
New results break with decades of conventional wisdom for the gradient descent algorithm.
To Move Fast, Quantum Maze Solvers Must Forget the Past
Quantum algorithms can find their way out of mazes exponentially faster than classical ones, at the cost of forgetting the path they took. A new result suggests that the trade-off may be inevitable.
How to Build a Big Prime Number
A new algorithm brings together the advantages of randomness and deterministic processes to reliably construct large prime numbers.
Computer Scientists Inch Closer to Major Algorithmic Goal
A new paper finds a faster method for determining when two mathematical groups are the same.
The Most Important Machine That Was Never Built
When he invented Turing machines in 1936, Alan Turing also invented modern computing.
How Randomness Improves Algorithms
Unpredictability can help computer scientists solve otherwise intractable problems.
Finally, a Fast Algorithm for Shortest Paths on Negative Graphs
Researchers can now find the shortest route through a network nearly as fast as theoretically possible, even when some steps can cancel out others.
New Algorithm Closes Quantum Supremacy Window
Random circuit sampling, a popular technique for showing the power of quantum computers, doesn’t scale up if errors go unchecked.