complexity theory

Save This Word!

noun

the study of complex and chaotic systems and how order, pattern, and structure can arise from them.

the theory that processes having a large number of seemingly independent agents can spontaneously order themselves into a coherent system.

QUIZ

WILL YOU SAIL OR STUMBLE ON THESE GRAMMAR QUESTIONS?

Smoothly step over to these common grammar mistakes that trip many people up. Good luck!

Question 1 of 7

Fill in the blank: I can’t figure out _____ gave me this gift.

who

whom

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Words nearby complexity theory

complexing agent, complexion, complexioned, complexionless, complexity, complexity theory, complex number, complexometric titration, complexometry, complexone, complex plane

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use complexity theory in a sentence

A couple of decades ago, Steve Cook moved on to other related problems in complexity theory.
The 50-year-old problem that eludes theoretical computer science|Siobhan Roberts|October 27, 2021|MIT Technology Review
One of the most important results in all of complexity theory, for instance, was achieved by David Barrington, of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 1989.
The 50-year-old problem that eludes theoretical computer science|Siobhan Roberts|October 27, 2021|MIT Technology Review
On Monday, July 19, 2021, in the middle of another strange pandemic summer, a leading computer scientist in the field of complexity theory tweeted out a public service message about an administrative snafu at a journal.
The 50-year-old problem that eludes theoretical computer science|Siobhan Roberts|October 27, 2021|MIT Technology Review
In the coming decades he would make many foundational contributions to complexity theory — helping to elaborate which problems fall into which complexity classes under which circumstances.
Pioneers Linking Math and Computer Science Win the Abel Prize|Kevin Hartnett|March 17, 2021|Quanta Magazine

But at the heart of this “Truther” conspiracy theory is the idea that “someone” wants to destroy Bill Cosby.
Phylicia Rashad and the Cult of Cosby Truthers|Stereo Williams|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Is it sort of evidence of the Gladwellian 10,000 hours theory?
Coffee Talk with Fred Armisen: On ‘Portlandia,’ Meeting Obama, and Taylor Swift’s Greatness|Marlow Stern|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
But a 2011 study of genetic evidence from 30 ethnic groups in India disproved this theory.
The Himalayas’ Hidden Aryans|Nina Strochlic|January 3, 2015|DAILY BEAST
But, in theory, that started to change last week with the first meeting of SIX, the State Innovation Exchange.
The Left’s Answer to ALEC|Ben Jacobs|December 15, 2014|DAILY BEAST
His most elaborate camera maneuvers seemed almost diabolical in their complexity.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days|David Freeman|December 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In the year of misery, of agony and suffering in general he had endured, he had settled upon one theory.
The Homesteader|Oscar Micheaux
Dean Swift was indeed a misanthrope by theory, however he may have made exception to private life.
Gulliver's Travels|Jonathan Swift
The other is the new theory: that the Bible is the work of many men whom God had inspired to speak or write the truth.
God and my Neighbour|Robert Blatchford
The evolution theory alleges that they were evolved, slowly, by natural processes out of previously existing matter.
God and my Neighbour|Robert Blatchford
And our surroundings at that particular moment were not the most favorable to coherent thought or plausible theory-building.
Raw Gold|Bertrand W. Sinclair

British Dictionary definitions for complexity theory

complexity theory

noun

maths the study of complex systems, including subjects such as chaos theory and genetic algorithms

computing a field in theoretical computer science dealing with the resources required during computation to solve a given problem

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for complexity theory

complexity theory

[ kəm-plĕk′sĭ-tē ]

See computational complexity.

Any of various branches of mathematics, physics, computer science, and other fields, concerned with the emergence of order and structure in complex and apparently chaotic systems. See also chaos.