Certifying solutions to permutation group problems

Abstract

We describe the integration of permutation group algorithms with proof planning. We consider eight basic questions arising in computational permutation group theory, for which our code provides both answers and a set of certificates enabling a user, or an intelligent software system, to provide a full proof of correctness of the answer. To guarantee correctness we use proof planning techniques, which construct proofs in a human-oriented reasoning style. This gives the human mathematician the necessary insight into the computed solution, as well as making it feasible to check the solution for relatively large groups.