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    It is not the case that The feasibility thesis equates 'polynomial time' with tractability, but this conflation (criticized by Parberry, Gurevich) smuggles in an empirical claim as a definitional truth.

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    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.Polynomial-time is not presented as 'tractable' by most theorists but as a principled mathematical threshold independent of empirical validation.
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    • 2.Practical hardness depends on problem instances and hardware; defining tractability by polynomial time avoids problem-specific empiricism.
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    • 3.The feasibility thesis succeeds because polynomial algorithms typically outperform exponential ones across computational domains studied in practice.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
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    • 1.Polynomial algorithms with huge constants (e.g., O(n^100)) are theoretically tractable but practically intractable on realistic inputs.
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    • 2.The P vs NP problem's significance derives from open empirical questions about algorithm speedups, not settled mathematical definitions.
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    • 3.Conflating definitional equivalence with empirical adequacy obscures why polynomial-time serves as a useful heuristic rather than fundamental truth.
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