When is a problem said to be decidable or undecidable?

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In summary, decision algorithms provide an output in the form of yes/no or true/false and are used to determine whether a problem is decidable or undecidable based on the existence of an algorithm, such as a Turing machine, to solve it.
  • #1
shivajikobardan
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Definition 1-:https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/mKVgfAdOOXQUjpsgw5h2pGNfVLLZHC8ZEZ3up_Gtxosm_TrMaYWg7qPbYhyx72qEwW3z__qp6Ls3fhnPSwDCa9wtGjGqu-i0wn4WVOCCfvoeFuVtnO9lMPSpKZ_Yxs2ORZPLgD6r
Taken from here-: https://research.cs.queensu.ca/home/cisc462/moni/m3.pdf

This in my opinion, just makes things complicated. Decision problem is just something where we get output in the form of yes/no…T/F…etc.
But it says it gives input true or false…can you give me example about that?

I thought the goal of decision algorithm should be to find answer in the form of yes or no.

Definition 2-:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/LGJ5Mw19XOGQUgfSwqofQnzI53tDpmI4OPyyQscQ0oGdRPVp1VNNM7xOEqX0uzvN0saBrShn3CYHGUDhxr1qFrfzHcLn1QUn_om-xDpuG41kpy22GTpqUTWkyNAri5g-xJIA46ab
Source-: http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~evans/cs302/classes/class17.pdf

This says something else.

Definition 3-:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/SoyiGloVOdLygjH1CcFeh5Hu_KHSr7aFVjQVZj7QNdi9JXsshYGXaIz6bVJ-ahW4B9kB7ji7DeDgLS5uWnHj3Ek6ykZ9EkIDhGTiGQ3QYGzpeB7QKsOqhAdOehkXaKuDIe2ZSDAu

Source-:

This says something else.

I am confused in this seemingly simple thing. What I feel is that “if there is an algorithm to solve it(basically a turing machine) then it is decidable”...else undecidable. Am I right?
 
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  • #2
shivajikobardan said:
This in my opinion, just makes things complicated. Decision problem is just something where we get output in the form of yes/no…T/F…etc.
But it says it gives input true or false
No, the first image does not say this.

shivajikobardan said:
This says something else.
No, it says the same thing.

shivajikobardan said:
This says something else.
I am not going to watch a 30 minutes video to find that it probably says the same thing.

shivajikobardan said:
What I feel is that “if there is an algorithm to solve it(basically a turing machine) then it is decidable”...else undecidable. Am I right?
Yes.
 

FAQ: When is a problem said to be decidable or undecidable?

What is the definition of a decidable problem?

A decidable problem is one that can be solved by an algorithm within a finite amount of time. This means that given a specific input, the algorithm will always produce a correct answer in a finite number of steps.

How is a problem determined to be decidable or undecidable?

A problem is determined to be decidable or undecidable based on the existence of an algorithm that can solve it. If such an algorithm exists, the problem is decidable. If there is no algorithm that can solve the problem, it is undecidable.

Can a problem be partially decidable?

Yes, a problem can be partially decidable, also known as semi-decidable. This means that there exists an algorithm that can determine whether a given input is a valid solution, but it may not necessarily be able to determine if an input is not a solution.

Are all real-world problems decidable?

No, not all real-world problems are decidable. In fact, many problems in mathematics and computer science have been proven to be undecidable. This means that there is no algorithm that can solve these problems for all possible inputs.

How does the halting problem relate to decidable and undecidable problems?

The halting problem is a classic example of an undecidable problem. It states that there is no algorithm that can determine whether a given program will halt or run forever. This problem serves as a basis for understanding the concept of undecidability and its relationship to decidable problems.

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