CS 5104 take-home quiz -1- April 20, 2006

Solution to CS 5104 Take-home quiz

1. (5 points) Show that the ≤P relation is a transitive relation on languages. That is, show
that if L1 ≤P L2 and L2 ≤P L3, then L1 ≤P L3.

Let M1 be a polynomial-time TM that reduces L1 to L2

Let M2 be a polynomial-time TM that reduces L2 to L3
Construct M = On input w:
Run M1 on w to get w′
Run M2 on w′ to get w′′
Output w′′

The runtime of M is polynomial in size |w|.

w ∈ L1 ⇔ w′ ∈ L2 ⇔ w′′ ∈ L3

Therefore, M is a polynomial-time TM that reduces L1 to L3

2. (5 points) Fill out the table described in the polynomial time algorithm for context-
free language recognition from Theorem 7.16 for string w = baba and CFG G:

S → RT
R → TR | a
T → TR | b

last symbol
b a b a
b {T} { R, T } {S} { S, R, T }
first a {R} {S} {S}
symbol b {T} { R, T }
a {R}
CS 5104 take-home quiz -2- April 20, 2006

3. (15 points) A subset of the nodes of graph G is a dominating set if every node of G is
either in the subset or is adjacent to some node in the subset. Let

DOM-SET = { 〈G, k〉 | G has a dominating set with k nodes }

Show that it is NP-complete by giving a reduction from VERTEX-COVER.

I. DOM-SET ∈ NP
A. Certificate: a set of vertices that dominate G
B. Algorithm: M = “On input 〈G, c〉:
for each vertex v in G
check if v ∈ c or ∃ x ∈ c such that (v, x) is in G
C. Runtime: Polynomial in V[G] + E[G]

II. DOM-SET is NP-hard (we show VERTEX-COVER ≤P DOM-SET

A. Algorithm: R: 〈G, k〉 → 〈G′, k′〉
R = “On input 〈G, k〉:
set k′ = k
copy all edges and their vertices from G into G′
// note: this does not copy vertices with no edges
for each edge (x, y) in G
add a vertex zx,y to G′
add edges (x, zx,y) and (y, zx,y) to G′
B. Runtime: Clearly polynomial
C. Correctness: Show: 〈G, k〉 ∈ VERTEX-COVER ⇔ 〈G′, k′〉 ∈ DOM-SET
(⇒)
Assume G has a vertex cover V of size k
⇒ V dominates all vertices that have at least one edge, and
V dominates all new vertices zx,y added to G′
⇒ V dominates G′
(⇐)
Assume that G′ has a dominating set D of size k
⇒ Let D′ = (D ∩ V[G]) ∪ X where X ⊆ V[G] and x ∈ X if
1. (x, y) ∈ E[G]
2. x, y ∉ D ∩ V[G]
3. y ∉ X
4. zx,y ∈ D (zx,y ∈ V[G′] – V[G] by R’s construction of G′)
⇒ D′ ≤ k (X has ≤ one element for every element of V[G′] – V[G])
and for all edges (u, v) ∈ G,
Case 1: u ∈ D ∩ V[G] or v ∈ D ∩ V[G] ⇒ D′ covers (u, v)
Case 2: u,v ∉ D ∩ V[G] ⇒ zu,v ∈ D ⇒ u or v ∈ X ⇒ D′ covers (u,v)