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The undecidability of the unification and matching problem for canonical theories

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Summary

The problem whether there exists a unifying substitution for two terms is considered in the class of theories which can be embedded into canonical term rewriting systems. The problem is shown to be undecidable, even if we restrict the substitutions to matching ones. This implies that the class of admissible canonical theories is a proper subset of the class of canonical theories.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Industrieanlagen-Betriebsgesellschaft mbH, Einsteinstraße, D-8012, Ottobrunn, Federal Republic of Germany

    Stephan Heilbrunner

  2. Universität der Bundeswehr München, Werner-Heisenberg-Weg 39, D-8014, Neubiberg, Federal Republic of Germany

    Steffen Hölldobler

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  1. Stephan Heilbrunner
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  2. Steffen Hölldobler
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Heilbrunner, S., Hölldobler, S. The undecidability of the unification and matching problem for canonical theories. Acta Informatica 24, 157–171 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00264362

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00264362

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