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Difference matching

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Automated Deduction—CADE-11 (CADE 1992)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 607))

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Abstract

Difference matching is a generalization of first-order matching where terms are made identical both by variable instantiation and by structure hiding. After matching, the hidden structure may be removed by a type of controlled rewriting, called rippling, that leaves the rest of the term unaltered. Rippling has proved highly successful in inductive theorem proving. Difference matching allows us to use rippling in other contexts, e.g., equational, inequational, and propositional reasoning. We present a difference matching algorithm, its properties, several applications, and suggest extensions.

The first author was supported, while at Edinburgh, by SERC grant GR/F/71799, the second by a SERC PostDoctoral Fellowship. We would like to thank the other members of the Edinbrugh Mathematical Reasoning Group for their feedback on this project.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck-Institut für Informatik Im Stadtwald, Saarbrücken, Germany

    David Basin

  2. Department of AI, Edinburgh University, Edinburgh, Scotland

    Toby Walsh

Authors
  1. David Basin
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  2. Toby Walsh
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Editor information

Deepak Kapur

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© 1992 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Basin, D., Walsh, T. (1992). Difference matching. In: Kapur, D. (eds) Automated Deduction—CADE-11. CADE 1992. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 607. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-55602-8_173

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-55602-8_173

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-55602-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-47252-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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