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Are NP or P closed under subtraction? Im having a hard time deciding whether they are or aren't. Question was edited

Original question: Im having some hard time figuring out what languages are closed under subtraction. Say you have 2 languages A, B ∈ NP. Is A\B ∈ NP? what about P?

Commenters: My original question was extremely not accurate so i rephrased :)

Thanks!

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    $\begingroup$ Well, how would you decide if a word belongs to A\B? $\endgroup$
    – Karolis Juodelė
    Commented Dec 11, 2013 at 21:05
  • $\begingroup$ Hint: if a language class is closed under subtraction, it contains $A \setminus A$. $\endgroup$
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Commented Dec 11, 2013 at 21:28
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    $\begingroup$ Languages isn't what you're actually interested in, you want to know whether a given complexity class is closed under subtraction of languages in that class. $\endgroup$
    – G. Bach
    Commented Dec 11, 2013 at 22:12
  • $\begingroup$ @G. Bach thats what i was trying to ask, are NP or P closed under subtraction? I was trying to think of an example and that is why i (mistakenly) refered to A and B. $\endgroup$
    – Andrea Williams
    Commented Dec 11, 2013 at 22:51
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    $\begingroup$ @AndreaWilliams P is, whether NP is depends on whether NP = coNP, I think. $\endgroup$
    – G. Bach
    Commented Dec 11, 2013 at 23:22

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$A \setminus B$ is defined as $\{x | x \in A ~ and ~ not ~ x \in B \}$. If you know the complexity of checking $x \in A$ and $x \in B$, what does that tell you about the complexitty of $x \in A \setminus B$? Can you see the algorithm for checking it?

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  • $\begingroup$ Yes, thanks! As @G. Bach suggested, i have concluded that P is closed under subtraction whereas NP isn't. $\endgroup$
    – Andrea Williams
    Commented Dec 11, 2013 at 23:56
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    $\begingroup$ @AndreaWilliams Just to be clear, I don't know whether NP is closed under subtraction. $\endgroup$
    – G. Bach
    Commented Dec 12, 2013 at 0:24

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