tractability

Meanings

1. 1noununcountable

   The quality of being easy to control, manage, or deal with.

   Grammar: Uncountable: you say the tractability of a problem, not a tractability.

   Patterns

   • the tractability of something
   • show tractability
   • increase tractability

   The tractability of the new material made it popular with engineers.

   Teachers appreciate the tractability of students who listen and follow instructions.

   The committee discussed the tractability of the budget problem.

2. 2noununcountabletechnical

   In mathematics and computing, the quality of a problem that can be solved in a reasonable amount of time.

   Grammar: Uncountable; used in technical contexts.

   Patterns

   • the tractability of a problem
   • computational tractability

   Researchers study the tractability of scheduling problems.

   The tractability of the algorithm depends on the size of the input.

   They proved the tractability of the problem under certain conditions.

Common combinations

the tractability of a problem

The tractability of the problem surprised the mathematicians.

computational tractability

Computational tractability is a key concern in algorithm design.

show tractability

The child showed tractability and did as asked.

increase tractability

Adding more memory can increase the tractability of the task.

Synonyms and how they differ

manageability

Manageability is more general and often used for tasks or situations; tractability is more formal and common in technical writing.

compliance

Compliance means actually doing what is asked; tractability means being willing or easy to guide.

Opposites

Word family

tractable adjective

Easy to control or deal with.

intractable adjective

Very difficult to control or solve.

Commonly confused: tractability or attractiveness?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “tractability”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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