Professor Jack Edmonds, one of the most important contributors to the field of combinatorial optimization and winner of the John Von Neumann Theory Prize, gave a distinguished lecture titled “Origins of NP and P”, this Wednesday, 20th February, to a large audience.

According to professor Jack Edmonds NP and P have origins in the “marriage theorem”, which was the main topic addressed by the speaker. “The proofs of theorems that math enthusiasts hold in high regard, often gives an impression that there is no easy way to actually get what the theorem describes”, he said. Regarding the fact that there isn’t a valid NP≠P proof, he said: “There is no mathematical proof for many propositions of truth value”.