Mathematics / Logic and Foundations

Computability Theory Quiz

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

  • False
  • True

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.

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