Abstract
In this paper we analyze the algebraic formulations of certain geometry statements appearing in recent literature related to mechanical geometry theorem proving and give several examples to show that one of these formulations can cause serious problems. We clarify a formulation which is essentially due to W. T. Wu and, in our opinion, is the most satisfactory.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
K. B. Taylor, Three Circles with Collinear Centers,American Mathematical Monthly,90 (1983), 486–487.
E. Artin,Geometric Algebra, Interscience, New York, 1957.
F. Bachmann and K. Reidemeister, Die Metrishe Form in der Absoluten und der Elliptischen Geometrie,Mathematische Annalen,29 (1937), 748–765.
S. C. Chou, Proving Elementary Geometry Theorems Using Wu's Algorithm, inAutomated Theorem Proving: After 25 years, Ed. by W. W. Bledsoe and D. Loveland, AMS Contemporary Mathematics Series, Vol. 29, American Mathematical Society, Providence, RI, 1984, pp. 243–286.
S. C. Chou, Proving and Discovering Theorems in Elementary Geometries Using Wu's Method, Ph.D. Thesis, Department of Mathematics, University of Texas at Austin, 1985.
S. C. Chou, Proving Geometry Theorems Using Wu's Method: A Collection of Geometry Theorems Proved Mechanically, Technical Report 50, Institute for Computing Science, University of Texas at Austin, July 1986.
S. C. Chou, An Introduction to Wu's Method for Mechanical Theorem Proving in Geometry,Journal of Automated Reasoning (to appear).
S. C. Chou,Mechanical Geometry Theorem Proving, Mathematics and Its Applications, Reidel, Amsterdam, 1988.
S. C. Chou and J. G. Yang, An Algorithm for Constructing Gröbner Bases from Characteristic Sets and Its Application to Geometry, Preprint, University of Texas at Austin, April 1987 (submitted toAlgorithmica).
S. C. Chou and W. F. Schelter, Proving Geometry Theorems with Rewrite Rules,Journal of Automated Reasoning,2(4) (1986), 253–273.
P. J. Davis and E. Cerutti, FORMAC meets Pappus,American Mathematical Monthly,76 (1969), 895–905.
P. J. Davis, Proof, Completeness, Transcendentals, Sampling,Journal of the Association for Computing Machinery,24 (1977), 298–310.
M. J. Greenberg,Euclidean and Non-Euclidean Geometries, Development and History, Freeman, San Francisco, 1973.
R. Hartshorne,Algebraic Geometry, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1978.
R. Hartshorne,Foundations of Projective Geometry, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1967.
D. Hilbert,Foundations of Geometry, Open Court, La Salla, IL, 1971.
D. Kapur, Geometry Theorem Proving Using Hilbert's Nullstellensatz,Proceedings of the 1986 Symposium on Symbolic and Algebraic Computation, pp. 202–208.
B. Kutzler and S. Stifter, Automated Geometry Theorem Proving Using Buchberger's Algorithm,Proceedings of the 1986 Symposium on Symbolic and Algebraic Computation, pp. 209–214.
R. F. Ritt,Differential Algebra, AMS Colloquium Publications, American Mathematical Society, Providence, RI, 1950.
J. R. Shoenfield,Mathematical Logic, Addison-Wesley, New York, 1967.
P. Szasz, Direct Introduction of Weierstrass Homogeneous Coordinates in the Hyperbolic Plane, on the Basis of the End-Calculus of Hilbert, inThe Axiomatic Method, Ed. by A. Tarskiet al., 1959, pp. 97–113.
G. W. Szmielew, Some Metamathematical Problems Concerning Elementary Hyperbolic Geometry, inThe Axiomatic Method, Ed. by A. Tarskiet al., 1959, pp. 30–52.
A. Tarski,A Decision Method for Elementary Algebra and Geometry, Second Edition, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1951.
A. Tarski, What is Elementary Geometry, inThe Axiomatic Method, Ed. by A. Tarskiet al., 1959.
B. L. Van Der Waerden,Modern Algebra, English Edition, Ungar, New York, 1948.
Wu Wen-tsün, On the Decision Problem and the Mechanization of Theorem Proving in Elementary Geometry,Scientia Sinica,21 (1978), 157–179.
Wu Wen-tsün, Basic Principles of Mechanical Theorem Proving in Geometries,Journal of Systems Science and Mathematical Sciences,4(3) (1984), 207–235, republished inJournal of Automated Reasoning,2(4) (1986), 221–252.
Wu Wen-tsün,Basic Principles of Mechanical Theorem Proving in Geometries, Peking, 1984 (in Chinese).
Wu Wen-tsün, Toward Mechanization of Geometry—Some Comments on Hilbert's “Grundlagen der Geometrie”,Acta Mathematica Scientia,2 (1982), 125–138.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Communicated by John E. Hopcroft.
This author was supported by NSF Grants DCR-8503498 and CCR-8702108.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chou, S.C., Yang, J.G. On the algebraic formulation of certain geometry statements and mechanical geometry theorem proving. Algorithmica 4, 237–262 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01553889
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01553889