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Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →No. Vinay Deolalikar circulated a purported proof that P ≠ NP in 2010, but it was not accepted as a solution. The Clay Mathematics Institute still lists P vs NP as unsolved. The existence of a manuscript or a listing in an HP Labs technical-report index does not establish that its proof is correct.
What does P vs NP ask?
P vs NP asks whether every problem whose answer can be checked efficiently can also be solved efficiently. The Clay Mathematics Institute illustrates the distinction with a housing-selection problem: checking whether a proposed group meets stated constraints can be easier than finding a group that does. In computational complexity, P is the class of problems solvable in polynomial time; NP is the class for which a proposed solution can be checked in polynomial time. The question is whether these classes are equal or different. Clay Mathematics Institute’s P vs NP overview
What did Vinay Deolalikar claim in 2010?
MIT News reported that on August 6, 2010, Vinay Deolalikar, described as a mathematician at HP Labs, sent researchers a 103-page attachment purporting to answer P vs NP. HP Labs’ 2010 technical-report index also lists “HPL-2010-95 P ≠ NP” under Deolalikar’s name. That listing confirms that a report appeared in the index; it is not an endorsement or validation of the result. MIT News report · HP Labs 2010 technical-report index
Why wasn’t the circulated argument accepted?
The claim drew quick scrutiny. In MIT News coverage, MIT associate professor Scott Aaronson identified what he called a “very serious gap” in the statistical-physics part of the argument. He also said the approach appeared to make 3-SAT hard in a way that risked applying to XOR-SAT, a variant with an efficient solution. Aaronson’s comments were a contemporary assessment of the circulated version, not a formal journal referee report or a verdict on every possible later revision. MIT News interview with Aaronson
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MIT CSAIL’s August 31, 2010 coverage likewise framed the work as a claimed solution and reported that Aaronson considered the argument deeply flawed. Richard Lipton’s August 8, 2010 post discussed the paper as preliminary and described its proposed connections among finite model theory, polynomial-time computation, and random SAT structures. These accounts document early responses; neither changes the current status of the problem. MIT CSAIL coverage · Lipton’s August 8, 2010 post
What is the current status of P vs NP?
The Clay Mathematics Institute’s P vs NP page labels the problem “Unsolved.” It says the question is whether problems that appear difficult to solve truly have no feasible way to generate an answer, and notes that Stephen Cook and Leonid Levin formulated it independently in 1971. The official status is decisive for the reader’s question: Deolalikar’s 2010 claim did not settle P vs NP. Clay Mathematics Institute’s P vs NP page
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to interpret the HP Labs connection
There are three distinct facts, and they should not be conflated:
- Affiliation: MIT News described Deolalikar as a mathematician at HP Labs when reporting the 2010 claim.
- Publication record: HP Labs’ index lists his report, “HPL-2010-95 P ≠ NP.”
- Mathematical acceptance: The Clay Mathematics Institute continues to list P vs NP as unsolved.
The first two facts establish who circulated the argument and that a report was listed. They do not amount to independent confirmation that the proof worked.
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