Skip to main content

Abstract notions and inference systems for proofs by mathematical induction

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Conditional and Typed Rewriting Systems (CTRS 1994)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 968))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

Soundness of inference systems for inductive proofs is sometimes shown ad hoc and a posteriori, lacking modularization and interface notions. As a consequence, these soundness proofs tend to be clumsy, difficult to understand and maintain, and error prone with difficult to localize errors. Furthermore, common properties of the inference rules are often hidden, and the comparison with similar systems is difficult. To overcome these problems we propose to develop soundness proofs systematically by presenting an abstract frame inference system a priori and then to design each concrete inference rule locally as a sub-rule of some frame inference rule and to show its soundness by a small local proof establishing this sub-rule relationship. We present a frame inference system and two approaches to show its soundness, discuss an alternative, and briefly classify the literature. In an appendix we give an example and briefly discuss failure recognition and refutational completeness.

supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, SFB 314 (D4-Projekt)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Leo Bachmair (1988). Proof by Consistency in Equational Theories. 3rd IEEE symposium on Logic In Computer Science, pp. 228–233.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klaus Becker (1993). Proving Ground Confluence and Inductive Validity in Constructor Based Equational Specifications. TAPSOFT 1993, LNCS 668, pp. 46–60, Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klaus Becker (1994). Rewrite Operationalization of Clausal Specifications with Predefined Structures. PhD thesis, Fachbereich Informatik, Universität Kaiserslautern.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolfgang Bibel, E. Eder (1993). Methods and Calculi for Deduction. In: Dov M. Gabbay, C. J. Hogger, J. A. Robinson (eds.). Handbook of Logic in Artificial Intelligence and Logic Programming. Vol. 1, pp. 67–182, Clarendon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robert S. Boyer, J Strother Moore (1979). A Computational Logic. Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ulrich Fraus (1993). A Calculus for Conditional Inductive Theorem Proving. 3rd CTRS 1992, LNCS 656, pp. 357–362, Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernhard Gramlich (1989). Inductive Theorem Proving Using Refined Unfailing Completion Techniques. SEKI-Report SR-89-14 (SFB), Fachbereich Informatik, Universität Kaiserslautern. Short version in: 9th ECAI 1990, pp. 314–319, Pitman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin Protzen (1994). Lazy Generation of Induction Hypotheses. 12th CADE 1994, LNAI814, pp. 42–56, Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Uday S. Reddy (1990). Term Rewriting Induction. 10th CADE 1990, LNAI 449, pp. 162–177, Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Christoph Walther (1994). Mathematical Induction. In: Handbook of Logic in Artificial Intelligence and Logic Programming, eds. cf. above. Vol. 2, pp. 127–228, Clarendon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Claus-Peter Wirth (1991). Inductive Theorem Proving in Theories specified by Positive/Negative Conditional Equations. Diplomarbeit, Fachbereich Informatik, Universität Kaiserslautern.

    Google Scholar 

  • Claus-Peter Wirth, Bernhard Gramlich (1993). A Constructor-Based Approach for Positive/Negative-Conditional Equational Specifications. 3rd CTRS 1992, LNCS 656, pp. 198–212, Springer. Revised and extended version in J. Symbolic Computation (1994) 17, pp. 51–90, Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Claus-Peter Wirth, Bernhard Gramlich (1994). On Notions of Inductive Validity for First-Order Equational Clauses. 12th CADE 1994, LNAI 814, pp. 162–176, Springer.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Nachum Dershowitz Naomi Lindenstrauss

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1995 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Wirth, CP., Becker, K. (1995). Abstract notions and inference systems for proofs by mathematical induction. In: Dershowitz, N., Lindenstrauss, N. (eds) Conditional and Typed Rewriting Systems. CTRS 1994. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 968. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-60381-6_21

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-60381-6_21

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-60381-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-45513-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics