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DNA Solves Million-Answer NP-Complete Problem

Posted by timothy on from the combinations dept.

cybrpnk writes: "A 'DNA computer' has been used for the first time to find the only correct answer from over a million possible solutions to a computational problem. Leonard Adleman of the University of Southern California in the US and colleagues used different strands of DNA to represent the 20 variables in their problem, which could be the most complex task ever solved without a conventional computer. Details to be published in Science."

1 of 169 comments (clear)

  1. Travelling Salesman by Rudie · · Score: 0, Redundant

    After reading the article at USC it seems to me that they have solved an instance of the Travelling Salsesman Problem of size 20 encoded in SAT, can anyone confirm or deny this?

    Very interesting in any case, well done.