On coherence in computer algebra

  • Andreas Weber
Conference paper
First Online:
Part of the Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series (LNCS, volume 722)

Abstract

Modern computer algebra systems (e. g. AXIOM) support a rich type system including parameterized data types and the possibility of implicit coercions between types. In such a type system it will be frequently the case that there are different ways of building coercions between types. An important requirement is that all coercions between two types coincide, a property which is called coherence.

We will prove a coherence theorem for a formal type system having several possibilities of coercions covering many important examples. Moreover, we will give some informal reasoning why the formally defined restrictions can be satisfied by an actual system.

Keywords

Type System Computer Algebra Category Theory Computer Algebra System Type Inference 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1993

Authors and Affiliations

  • Andreas Weber
    • 1
  1. 1.Wilhelm-Schickard-Institut für InformatikUniversität TübingenTübingenGermany

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