  Computational asymmetry, i.e., the discrepancy between the complexity of
transformations and the complexity of their inverses, is at the core of one-way
transformations. We introduce a computational asymmetry function that measures
the amount of one-wayness of permutations. We also introduce the word-length
asymmetry function for groups, which is an algebraic analogue of computational
asymmetry. We relate boolean circuits to words in a Thompson monoid, over a
fixed generating set, in such a way that circuit size is equal to word-length.
Moreover, boolean circuits have a representation in terms of elements of a
Thompson group, in such a way that circuit size is polynomially equivalent to
word-length. We show that circuits built with gates that are not constrained to
have fixed-length inputs and outputs, are at most quadratically more compact
than circuits built from traditional gates (with fixed-length inputs and
outputs). Finally, we show that the computational asymmetry function is closely
related to certain distortion functions: The computational asymmetry function
is polynomially equivalent to the distortion of the path length in Schreier
graphs of certain Thompson groups, compared to the path length in Cayley graphs
of certain Thompson monoids. We also show that the results of Razborov and
others on monotone circuit complexity lead to exponential lower bounds on
certain distortions.
