# How does karp reduction work? [closed]

I understand karp reduction can be used to change a problem and calls an oracle. But what is the oracle? How is it used? What are the details of a karp reduction? What is it that is reduced? I found the material to read about it somewhat inaccessible.

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## closed as not a real question by Austin Mohr, William, tomasz, userNaN, Asaf KaragilaOct 6 '12 at 10:02

It's difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, incomplete, overly broad, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form. For help clarifying this question so that it can be reopened, visit the help center.If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.

I think your question will be better served if you ask something more specific. –  Austin Mohr Sep 26 '12 at 22:19

This is the main method to prove complexity problems. For example, the Hamilton cycle problem is NP-complete, meaning that 'if there is an oracle for Positive Answer', then the answer is 'verified' in polynomial time (of the size of the input). Now the input is a $G$ graph, and the oracle can be the Hamilton cycle itself. It is also NP-complete, meaning that any other NP problem can be reducted to this Hamilton cycle problem.