What can be computed, and what cannot.
Answer five questions about Computability Theory and get instant feedback.
Question 1
A yes or no question that no algorithm can answer correctly for every input
Answer options
- Undecidable problem
- Recursive problem
- Computable problem
- Decidable problem
Key Idea
The classic example is the halting problem: given any program and input, no algorithm can always decide whether it will eventually stop or run forever.
Question 2
What kind of problem has an algorithm that halts on every input and answers yes or no?
Answer options
- Decidable problem
- Undecidable problem
- Search problem
- Optimization problem
Key Idea
Many classic tasks like testing if a number is prime are decidable, and the big mystery in computability is telling which problems are decidable and which are doomed to never halt.
Question 3
This image question appears in the interactive quiz.
Answer options
- Turing machine
- Finite automaton
- Recursive function
- Lambda calculus
Key Idea
A Turing machine separates computation into memory, rules, and step-by-step symbol changes.
Question 4
All computable sets sit in the same Turing degree, often called ...
Answer options
- $\mathbf{0}$
- $\mathbf{0''}$
- $\mathbf{0'}$
- $\mathbf{1}$
Key Idea
Degree $\mathbf{0}$ is the bottom of the Turing degree structure, and the next landmark $\mathbf{0'}$ is the degree of the halting problem, showing a strict jump in computational power.
Question 5
A many-one reduction guarantees that decidability of the source problem implies decidability of the target problem.
Answer options
Key Idea
A many-one reduction guarantees that decidability of the target problem implies decidability of the source problem. If $A \le_m B$ and $B$ is decidable, decide $A$ by mapping $x \mapsto f(x)$ and running the decider for $B$, so reductions transfer decidability backward, not forward.