Abstract
We survey the best known lower bounds on symbols and lines in Frege and extended Frege proofs. We prove that in minimum length sequent calculus proofs, no formula is generated twice or used twice on any single branch of the proof. We prove that the number of distinct subformulas in a minimum length Frege proof is linearly bounded by the number of lines. Depthd Frege proofs ofm lines can be transformed into depthd proofs ofO(m d+1) symbols. We show that renaming Frege proof systems are p-equivalent to extended Frege systems. Some open problems in propositional proof length and in logical flow graphs are discussed.
Access this article
We’re sorry, something doesn't seem to be working properly.
Please try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, please contact support so we can address the problem.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bonet, M.L.: Number of symbols in Frege proofs with and without the deduction rule. In: Clote, P., Krajíček, J. (eds.) Arithmetic, Proof Theory and Computational Complexity, pp. 61–95. Oxford: Oxford University Press 1993
Bonet, M.L., Buss, S.R.: The deduction rule and linear and near-linear proof simulations. J. Symb. Logic58, 688–709 (1993)
Buss, S.R.: Polynomial size proofs of the propositional pigeonhole principle. J. Symb. Logic52, 916–927 (1987)
Buss, S.R.: The undecidability ofk-provability. Ann. Pure Appl. Logic53, 75–102 (1991)
Buss, S.R.: On Gödel’s theorems on lengths of proofs II: Lower bounds for recognizingk symbol provability. In: Clote, P., Remmel, J. (eds.) Feasible Mathematics vol. II, pp. 57–90 Boston: Birkhäuser 1995
Buss, S.R., et al.: Weak formal systems and connections to computational complexity. Student-written Lecture Notes for a Topics Course at U.C. Berkeley, January–May (1988)
Cejtin, G., Čubarjan, A.: On some bounds to the lengths of logical proofs in classical propositional calculus (Russian). Trudy Vyčisl. Centra AN ArmSSR i Erevan. Univ.8, 57–64 (1975)
Cook, S.A., Reckhow, R.A.: The relative efficiency of propositional proof systems. J. Symb. Logic44, 36–50 (1979)
Dowd, M.: Model-theoretic aspects ofP ≠NP. Typewritten manuscript (1985)
Krajíček, J.: On the number of steps in proofs. Ann. Pure Appl. Logic41, 153–178 (1989)
Krajíček, J.: Speed-up for propositional Frege systems via generalizations of proofs. Commentationes Mathematicae Universitatis Carolinae30, 137–140 (1989)
Krajíček, J., Pudlák, P.: Propositional proof systems, the consistency of first-order theories and the complexity of computations, J. Symb. Logic54, 1063–1079 (1989)
Krajíček, J., Pudlák, P., Woods, A.: Exponential lower bound to the size of bounded depth Frege proofs of the pigeonhole principle. Random Struct. Algorithms (to appear)
Pitassi, T., Beame, P., Impagliazzo, R.: Exponential lower bounds for the pigeonhole principle. Comput. Complex.3, 97–140 (1993)
Reckhow, R.A.: On the lengths of proofs in the propositional calculus. PhD thesis, Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto, Technical Report #87 (1976)
Statman, R.: Complexity of derivations from quantifier-free Horn formulae, mechanical introduction of explicit definitions, and refinement of completeness theorems. In: Logic Colloquium ’76, pp. 505–517. Amsterdam: North Holland 1977
Takeuti, G.: Proof Theory, 2nd edn. Amsterdam: North-Holland 1987
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Supported in part by NSF grant DMS-9205181