A Comparison of two Proof Critics: Power vs. Robustness

Dennis, Louise Abigail; Bundy, Alan

Abstract

Proof critics are a technology from the proof planning paradigm. They examine failed proof attempts in order to extract information which can be used to generate a patch which will allow the proof to go through.
We consider the proof of the $quot;whisky problem$quot;, a challenge problem from the domain of temporal logic. The proof requires a generalisation of the original conjecture and we examine two proof critics which can be used to create this generalisation. Using these critics we believe we have produced the first automatic proofs of this challenge problem.

We use this example to motivate a comparison of the two critics and propose that there is a place for specialist critics as well as powerful
general critics. In particular we advocate the development of critics
that do not use meta-variables.

Citation

Dennis, L. A., & Bundy, A. A Comparison of two Proof Critics: Power vs. Robustness. Presented at Theorem Proving in Higher Order Logics, 15th International Conference, TPHOLs 2002

• Conference Name: Theorem Proving in Higher Order Logics, 15th International Conference, TPHOLs 2002
• End Date: Aug 23, 2002
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2002
• Deposit Date: Nov 24, 2005
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 9, 2007
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1022798
• Additional Information: Lecture Notes in Computer Science 2410