Stephen A. Cook and Bruce M. Kapron Department of Computer Science University of Toronto Toronto, Canada M5S 1A4 1 Introduction Functionals are functions which take natural numbers and other functionals as arguments and return natural numbers as values. The class of "feasible" functionals of finite type was introduced in [6] via the typed lambda calculus, and used to interpret certain formal systems of arithmetic: systems capturing the notion of "feasibly constructive proof" (we equate feasibility with polynomial time computability) . Here we name the functionals of [6] the basic feasible functionals and justify the designation by presenting results which include two programming style characterizations of the class. We also give examples of both feasible and infeasible functionals, and argue that the notion plays a natural role in complexity theory. Type 2 functionals take numbers and ordinary numerical functions as arguments. When these argument functions are 0-1 valued (i.e. sets) ...

. Finding a natural meeting ground between the highly developed complexity theory of computer science ---with its historical roots in logic and the discrete mathematics of the integers--- and the traditional domain of real computation, the more eclectic less foundational field of numerical analysis ---with its rich history and longstanding traditions in the continuous mathematics of analysis--- presents a compelling challenge. Here we illustrate the issues and pose our perspective toward resolution. This article is essentially the introduction of a book with the same title (to be published by Springer) to appear shortly. Webster: A public declaration of intentions, motives, or views. k Partially supported by NSF grants. y International Computer Science Institute, 1947 Center St., Berkeley, CA 94704, U.S.A., lblum@icsi.berkeley.edu. Partially supported by the Letts-Villard Chair at Mills College. z Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Balmes 132, Barcelona 08008, SPAIN, cucker@upf.es. P...