Schematic Unification

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Author: Cerna, David M.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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author Cerna, David M.
author_facet Cerna, David M.
contents We present a generalization of first-order unification to a term algebra where variable indexing is part of the object language. We exploit variable indexing by associating some sequences of variables ($X_0,\ X_1,\ X_2,\dots$) with a mapping $σ$ whose domain is the variable sequence and whose range consist of terms that may contain variables from the sequence. From a given term $t$, an infinite sequence of terms may be produced by iterative application of $σ$. Given a unification problem $U$ and mapping $σ$, the \textit{schematic unification problem} asks whether all unification problems $U$, $σ(U)$, $σ(σ(U))$, $\dots$ are unifiable. We provide a terminating and sound algorithm. Our algorithm is \textit{complete} if we further restrict ourselves to so-called $\infty$-stable problems. We conjecture that this additional requirement is unnecessary for completeness. Schematic unification is related to methods of inductive proof transformation by resolution and inductive reasoning.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2306_09152
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Schematic Unification
Cerna, David M.
Logic in Computer Science
We present a generalization of first-order unification to a term algebra where variable indexing is part of the object language. We exploit variable indexing by associating some sequences of variables ($X_0,\ X_1,\ X_2,\dots$) with a mapping $σ$ whose domain is the variable sequence and whose range consist of terms that may contain variables from the sequence. From a given term $t$, an infinite sequence of terms may be produced by iterative application of $σ$. Given a unification problem $U$ and mapping $σ$, the \textit{schematic unification problem} asks whether all unification problems $U$, $σ(U)$, $σ(σ(U))$, $\dots$ are unifiable. We provide a terminating and sound algorithm. Our algorithm is \textit{complete} if we further restrict ourselves to so-called $\infty$-stable problems. We conjecture that this additional requirement is unnecessary for completeness. Schematic unification is related to methods of inductive proof transformation by resolution and inductive reasoning.
title Schematic Unification
topic Logic in Computer Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.09152