Which is not a characteristic of an NP-complete problem?

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BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

The question asks which is not a characteristic of an NP-complete problem. 
Note: The provided answer choices are missing, so we cannot compare multiple options. Nevertheless, we can reason about the core concept involved.
A key fact about NP-complete problems is that they are inside NP and are NP-hard, meaning every problem in NP can be reduced to any NP-complete problem in polynomial time. This implies that if any NP-complete problem could be solved in polynomial time, then every problem in NP could be solved in polynomial time (i.e., P = NP). 
Therefore, the statement 'All NP-complete problems can be solved efficiently' is not a characteristic of NP-complete problems under the common assumption that P ≠ NP. In other words, efficiency (polynomial-time solvability) is not guaranteed for NP-complete problems in the general case; it would require a breakthrough that P = NP. 
Common misconceptions sometimes confuse 'verifiable in polynomial time' with 'solvable in polynomial time.' While NP problems have solutions verifiable quickly, NP-complete problems are as hard as the hardest problems in NP, and no known polynomial-time algorithms exist for them unless P = NP. 
If an option claimed that NP-complete problems are always solvable quickly, that would be false; the accurate characteristic is that they are as hard as the hardest problems in NP, with no proven efficient algorithms in the general case unless P equals NP. 
In summary, the problematic claim is the universal efficient solvability of NP-complete problems, which contradicts the widely believed separation between P and NP and the defining properties of NP-completeness.

Which is not a characteristic of an NP-complete problem?

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