It also follows from the transitivity of \(\leq_P\) that the existence of a polynomial time algorithm for even one \(\textbf{NP}\)-complete problem would entail the existence of polynomial time algorithms for all problems in \(\textbf{NP}\). The existence of such an algorithm would thus run strongly counter to expectation in virtue of the extensive effort which has been devoted to finding efficient solutions for particular \(\textbf{NP}\)-complete problems such as \(\sc{INTEGER}\ \sc{PROGRAMMING}\) or \(\sc{TSP}\). Such problems are thus standardly regarded as constituting the most difficult problems in \(\textbf{NP}\).