Skip to main content

Improving the Computational Efficiency in Symmetrical Numeric Constraint Satisfaction Problems

  • Conference paper
Book cover Current Topics in Artificial Intelligence (CAEPIA 2005)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 4177))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

Models are used in science and engineering for experimentation, analysis, diagnosis or design. In some cases, they can be considered as numeric constraint satisfaction problems (NCSP). Many models are symmetrical NCSP. The consideration of symmetries ensures that NCSP-solver will find solutions if they exist on a smaller search space. Our work proposes a strategy to perform it. We transform the symmetrical NCSP into a new NCSP by means of addition of symmetry-breaking constraints before the search begins. The specification of a library of possible symmetries for numeric constraints allows an easy choice of these new constraints. The summarized results of the studied cases show the suitability of the symmetry-breaking constraints to improve the solving process of certain types of symmetrical NCSP. Their possible speed-up facilitates the application of modelling and solving larger and more realistic problems.

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

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Benhamou, F., Sais, L.: Theoretical study of symmetries in propositional calculus and applications. In: Kapur, D. (ed.) CADE 1992. LNCS, vol. 607, Springer, Heidelberg (1992)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Benhamou, F., Older, W.: Applying Interval Arithmetic to Real, Integer and Boolean Constraints. The Journal of Logic Programming, 1–24 (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Collavizza, H., Delobel, F., Rueher, M.: Extending consistent domains of numeric CSP. In: Proceedings of Sixteenth IJCAI 1999, Stockholm, pp. 406–411 (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Crawford, J., Ginsberg, M., Luks, E., Roy, A.: Symmetry-breaking Predicates for search problems. In: Proc. of KR 1996, pp. 148–159 (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Dague, P.: Numeric Reasoning with relative orders of magnitude. In: Proc. of the Thirteenth IJCAI, Cambery, pp. 541–547 (1993)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Fox, M., Long, D.: The Detection and Explotation of Symmetry in Planning Problems. In: Proceedings IJCAI’99, pp. 956–961 (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Gent, I.P., Smith, B.M.: Symmetry Breaking During Search in Constraint Programming. In: Report 99.02 University of Leeds (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Gent, I.P., Smith, B.M.: Symmetry Breaking in Constraint Programming. In: Proc. ECAI 2000 (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Hyvönen, E.: Constraint reasoning based on interval arithmetic: the tolerance propagation. Artificial Intelligence 58, 1–112 (1992)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Jussien, N., Lhomme, O.: Dynamic domain splitting for numeric CSPs. In: Proceedings ECAI 1998, pp. 224–228 (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Lhomme, O.: Contribution à la résolution de constraintes sur les réels par propagation d’intervalles. Ph. D. Nice-Sophia University. Antipolis (1994)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Mavovrouniotis, M.L., Stephanopoulos, G.: Formal Order of Magnitude Reasoning in process engineering. Comput. Chem Engineering 12(9-10), 67–880 (1988)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Meseguer, P., Torras, C.: Solving Strategies for Highly Symmetric CSPs. In: Proceedings IJCAI 1999, pp. 400–411 (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Puget, J.F.: On the satisfiability of symmetrical constrained satisfaction problems. In: Komorowski, J., Raś, Z.W. (eds.) ISMIS 1993. LNCS, vol. 689, pp. 350–361. Springer, Heidelberg (1993)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Puget, J.F.: Symmetry Breaking using stabilizers. In: Rossi, F. (ed.) CP 2003. LNCS, vol. 2833, pp. 585–589. Springer, Heidelberg (2003)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  16. Van Hentenryck, P., Michel, L., Numerica, D.Y.: A modeling language for global optimization. The MIT Press, Cambridge (1997)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2006 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Gasca, R.M., Del Valle, C., Cejudo, V., Barba, I. (2006). Improving the Computational Efficiency in Symmetrical Numeric Constraint Satisfaction Problems. In: Marín, R., Onaindía, E., Bugarín, A., Santos, J. (eds) Current Topics in Artificial Intelligence. CAEPIA 2005. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 4177. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/11881216_29

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/11881216_29

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-45914-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-45915-6

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics