Algorithms and Theory

The development of modern computers has enabled the scalable application of algorithms, that is, finite sequences of rigorous instructions that solve a specific task. However, the concept of an algorithm is in fact much older, dating back to antiquity, where ancient mathematicians and philosophers concerned themselves with problems such as efficient finding of prime numbers and the greatest common divisor of two numbers. Nowadays, the area of theoretical computer science studies many advanced topics concerning the optimal design of algorithms and the computational hardness of certain tasks. By working on such challenging problems, many of which have been open for centuries, scientists at INSAIT aim at improving our understanding of what tasks are solvable on modern computers and how one can design software systems as efficiently as possible.