Labelled clauses

Abstract

We add labels to first-order clauses to simultaneously apply superpositions to several proof obligations inside one clause set. From a theoretical perspective, the approach unifies a variety of deduction modes. These include different strategies such as set of support, as well as explicit case analysis, e.g., splitting. From a practical perspective, labelled clauses offer advantages in the case of related proof obligations resulting from multiple conjectures over the same axiom set or from a single conjecture that is a large conjunction. Here we can share clauses (e.g., the axioms and clauses deduced from them, share Skolem symbols), share deduced clause variants, and transfer lemmas between the different obligations. Motivated by software verification, we have created a prototype implementation of labelled clauses that supports multiple conjectures, and we provide convincing experiments for the benefits. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.