Introduction

Abstract

This book is intended as an introduction to computation theory for upper-level undergraduate students and lower-level graduate students. We develop the underpinnings of the theory by studying three mathematical concepts that underlie much of the subject, followed by a number of fundamental applications of each concept. This chapter attempts to render concrete the rather abstract philosophical “manifesto” of the preface, focusing specifically on the “three pillars” that give the book its title and that give rise to the “big ideas” that anchor the book.