Classically, the theories of computation and computational complexity deal with discrete problems. On the other hand, many computational problems have the real numbers as natural domain. A variety of ad hoc methods and models have been employed to analyze complexity issues in this realm, but unlike the classical case, a natural and invariant theory has not yet emerged. This project is pursuing the foundations of a formal theory of computation and complexity over the reals, or an arbitrary ring R. It integrates classical recursive function theory and complexity theory with mainstream algebra, analysis and topology.
