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Equational Constraint Solving Via a Restricted Form of Universal Quantification

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Foundations of Information and Knowledge Systems (FoIKS 2006)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 3861))

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Abstract

In this paper, we present a syntactic method for solving first-order equational constraints over term algebras. The presented method exploits a novel notion of quasi-solved form that we call answer. By allowing a restricted form of universal quantification, answers provide a more compact way to represent solutions than the purely existential solved forms found in the literature. Answers have been carefully designed to make satisfiability test feasible and also to allow for boolean operations, while maintaining expressiveness and user-friendliness. We present detailed algorithms for (1) satisfiability checking and for performing the boolean operations of (2) negation of one answer and (3) conjunction of nanswers. Based on these three basic operations, our solver turns any equational constraint into a disjunction of answers. We have implemented a prototype that is available on the web.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dpto. de Lenguajes y Sistemas Informáticos, UPV-EHU, Paseo Manuel de Lardizabal, 1, 20080, San Sebastián, Spain

    Javier Álvez & Paqui Lucio

Authors
  1. Javier Álvez
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  2. Paqui Lucio
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Clausthal University of Technology, Julius-Albert-Str. 4, 38678, Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany

    Jürgen Dix

  2. Department of Computing Science, Umeå University, SE-901 87, Umeå, Sweden

    Stephen J. Hegner

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Álvez, J., Lucio, P. (2006). Equational Constraint Solving Via a Restricted Form of Universal Quantification. In: Dix, J., Hegner, S.J. (eds) Foundations of Information and Knowledge Systems. FoIKS 2006. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 3861. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/11663881_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/11663881_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-31782-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-31784-5

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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