BDDs and Automated Deduction

. BDDs (binary decision diagrams) are a very succesful tool for handling boolean functions, but one which has not yet attracted the attention of many automated deduction specialists. We give an overview of BDDs from an automated deduction perspective, showing what can be done with them in propositional and first-order logic, and discuss the parallels to well-known methods like tableaux and resolution. 1 Introduction BDDs (binarydecision diagrams) are a very succesful tool for handlingboolean functions, which has been used extensively in hardware verification (7), truth-maintenance systems (18) and various other domains; often they have superseded previously-known methods. Surprisingly, they have not yet attracted the attention of many automated deduction specialists. Our aim in this paper is to show that BDDs can be profitably used in this domain, too. Although we present briefly some BDD-based proof methods, we don't emphasize any particular technique. We give an overview of BDDs fro..

BDDs and Automated Deduction

BDDs (binary decision diagrams) are a very succesful tool for handling boolean functions, but one which has not yet attracted the attention of many automated deduction specialists. We give an overview of BDDs from an automated deduction perspective, showing what can be done with them in propositional and first-order logic, and discuss the parallels to well-known methods like tableaux and resolution