. The satisfiability (SAT) problem is a core problem in mathematical logic and computing theory. In practice, SAT is fundamental in solving many problems in automated reasoning, computer-aided design, computeraided manufacturing, machine vision, database, robotics, integrated circuit design, computer architecture design, and computer network design. Traditional methods treat SAT as a discrete, constrained decision problem. In recent years, many optimization methods, parallel algorithms, and practical techniques have been developed for solving SAT. In this survey, we present a general framework (an algorithm space) that integrates existing SAT algorithms into a unified perspective. We describe sequential and parallel SAT algorithms including variable splitting, resolution, local search, global optimization, mathematical programming, and practical SAT algorithms. We give performance evaluation of some existing SAT algorithms. Finally, we provide a set of practical applications of the sat...

In this paper techniques are developed and compared which increase the inferential power of tableau systems for classical first-order logic. The mechanisms are formulated in the framework of connection tableaux, which is an amalgamation of the connection method and the tableau calculus, and a generalization of model elimination. Since connection tableau calculi are among the weakest proof systems with respect to proof compactness, and the (backward) cut rule is not suitable for the firstorder case, we study alternative methods for shortening proofs. The techniques we investigate are the folding up and the folding down operation. Folding up represents an efficient way of supporting the basic calculus, which is top-down oriented, with lemmata derived in a bottom-up manner. It is shown that both techniques can also be viewed as controlled integrations of the cut rule. In order to remedy the additional redundancy imported into tableau proof procedures by the new inference rules, we develop and apply an extension of the regularity condition on tableaux and the mechanism of anti-lemmata which realizes a subsumption concept on tableaux. Using the framework of the theorem prover SETHEO, we have implemented three new proof procedures which overcome the deductive weakness of cut-free tableau systems. Experimental results demonstrate the superiority of the systems with folding up over the cut-free variant and the one with folding down.

this report. These are: 1. The one literal rule also known as the unit rule

. Tableau and sequent calculi are the basis for most popular interactive theorem provers for formal verification. Yet, when it comes to automatic proof search, tableaux are often slower than Davis-Putnam, SAT procedures or other techniques. This is partly due to the absence of a bivalence principle (viz. the cut-rule) but there is another source of inefficiency: the lack of constraint propagation mechanisms. This paper proposes an innovation in this direction: the rule of simplification, which plays for tableaux the role of subsumption for resolution and of unit for the Davis-Putnam procedure. The simplicity and generality of simplification make possible its extension in a uniform way from propositional logic to a wide range of modal logics. This technique gives an unifying view of a number of tableaux-like calculi such as DPLL, KE, HARP, hyper-tableaux, BCP, KSAT. We show its practical impact with experimental results for random 3SAT and the industrial IFIP benchmarks for hardware ve...

In the last ten years declaration-free programming languages with a polymorphic typing discipline (ML, B) have been developed to approximate the flexibility and conciseness of dynamically typed languages (LISP, SETL) while retaining the safety and execution efficiency of conventional statically typed languages (Algol68, Pascal). These polymorphic languages can be type checked at compile time, yet allow functions whose arguments range over a variety of types. We investigate several polymorphic type systems, the most powerful of which, termed Milner-Mycroft Calculus, extends the so-called let-polymorphism found in, e.g., ML with a polymorphic typing rule for recursive definitions. We show that semi-unification, the problem of solving inequalities over firstorder terms, characterizes type checking in the Milner-Mycroft Calculus to polynomial time, even in the restricted case where nested definitions are disallowed. This permits us to extend some infeasibility results for related combinato...

We characterize provability in intuitionistic predicate logic in terms of derivation skeletons and constraints and study the problem of instantiations of a skeleton to valid derivations. We prove that for two different notions of a skeleton the problem is respectively polynomial and NP-complete. As an application of our technique, we demonstrate PSPACE-completeness of the prenex fragment of intuitionistic logic. We outline some applications of the proposed technique in automated reasoning. y y Copyright c fl 1995, 1996 Andrei Voronkov. This technical report and other technical reports in this series can be obtained at http://www.csd.uu.se/~thomas/reports.html or at ftp.csd.uu.se in the directory pub/papers/reports. Some reports can be updated, check one of these addresses for the latest version. Section 1 Introduction The characterization of provability for classical logic in terms of matrices was given by Kanger [9, 10] and Prawitz [19, 20] and is in a fact a reformulation of the...

The simultaneous rigid E-unification problem arises naturally in theorem proving with equality. This problem has recently been shown to be undecidable. This raises the question whether simultaneous rigid E-unification can usefully be applied to equality theorem proving. We give some evidence in the affirmative, by presenting a number of common special cases in which a decidable version of this problem suffices for theorem proving with equality. We also present some general decidable methods of a rigid nature that can be used for equality theorem proving and discuss their complexity. Finally, we give a new proof of undecidability of simultaneous rigid E-unification which is based on Post's Correspondence Problem, and has the interesting feature that all the positive equations used are ground equations (that is, contain no variables). Contents 1 Introduction 2 2 Paths and Spanning Sets 2 3 Critical Pairs and Rigid E-Unification 4 3.1 NP-Completeness of Rigid E-Unification : : :...

Even though higher-order calculi for automated theorem proving are rather old, tableau calculi have not been investigated yet. This paper presents two free variable tableau calculi for higher-order logic that use higher-order unification as the key inference procedure. These calculi differ in the treatment of the substitutional properties of equivalences. The first calculus is equivalent in deductive power to the machineoriented higher-order refutation calculi known from the literature, whereas the second is complete with respect to Henkin's general models.

Simultaneous rigid E-unification was introduced in 1987 by Gallier, Raatz and Snyder. It is used in the area of automated reasoning with equality in extension procedures, like the tableau method or the connection method. Many articles in this area assumed the existence of an algorithm for the simultaneous rigid E-unification problem. There were several faulty proofs of the decidability of this problem. In this paper we prove that simultaneous rigid E-unification is undecidable. As a consequence, we obtain the undecidability of the 9 -fragment of intuitionistic logic with equality. 1 Introduction Simultaneous rigid E-unification plays a crucial role in automatic proof methods for first order logic with equality based on sequent calculi, such as semantic tableaux [13], the connection method [7] (also known as the mating method [1]), model elimination [25] and a dozen other procedures. All these methods are based on the Herbrand theorem and express the idea that the proof-search can ...

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