Efficient algorithms for constraint description problems over finite totally ordered domains extended abstract

Abstract

Given a finite set of vectors over a finite totally ordered domain, we study the problem of computing a constraint in conjunctive normal form such that the set of solutions for the produced constraint is identical to the original set. We develop an efficient polynomial-time algorithm for the general case, followed by specific polynomial-time algorithms producing Horn, dual Horn, and bijunctive constraints for sets of vectors closed under the operations of conjunction, disjunction, and median, respectively. We also consider the affine constraints, analyzing them by means of computer algebra. Our results generalize the work of Dechter and Pearl on relational data, as well as the papers by Hébrard and Zanuttini. They also complete the results of Hähnle et al. on multi-valued logics and Jeavons et al. on the algebraic approach to constraints. We view our work as a step toward a complete complexity classification of constraint satisfaction problems over finite domains.