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  1. Path: sparky!uunet!charon.amdahl.com!pacbell.com!ames!agate!doc.ic.ac.uk!uknet!edcastle!dcs.ed.ac.uk!pdc
  2. From: pdc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Paul Crowley)
  3. Newsgroups: comp.theory
  4. Subject: Re: Cryptography and P=NP
  5. Message-ID: <Bxvuu8.5KE@dcs.ed.ac.uk>
  6. Date: 17 Nov 92 23:06:08 GMT
  7. References: <1992Nov15.110945.19939@ringer.cs.utsa.edu> <15115@ember.UUCP> <Nov.16.16.59.47.1992.6436@remus.rutgers.edu> <1992Nov17.155308.25712@bnr.ca>
  8. Sender: cnews@dcs.ed.ac.uk (UseNet News Admin)
  9. Reply-To: pdc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Paul Crowley)
  10. Organization: Do they make a washing powder called Caliban Automatic?
  11. Lines: 17
  12.  
  13. Quoting bucknerb@bnr.ca (Brent Buckner) in article <1992Nov17.155308.25712@bnr.ca>:
  14. >In article <Nov.16.16.59.47.1992.6436@remus.rutgers.edu> clong@remus.rutgers.edu (Chris Long) writes:
  15. >>
  16. >>Sure, but P=NP and P<>NP are certainly not equally likely.  
  17. >
  18. >Of course; one is true (probability = 1) and the other false
  19. >(probability = 0).
  20.  
  21. These are informal probablilities, not statistical ones.  They boil down
  22. to "I'll bet you ten to one that P != NP".  In other words, they're
  23. indications of people's certainty.  Treat it as if we're arguing what
  24. odds the bookies should be giving.
  25.  
  26. Are there any bookies who'll let me place a bet on this?
  27.   __                                ____
  28. \/ o\ Paul Crowley pdc@dcs.ed.ac.uk \  /
  29. /\__/ "I'm the boy without a soul"   \/
  30.