3 research outputs found
Computer-Assisted Proving of Combinatorial Conjectures Over Finite Domains: A Case Study of a Chess Conjecture
There are several approaches for using computers in deriving mathematical
proofs. For their illustration, we provide an in-depth study of using computer
support for proving one complex combinatorial conjecture -- correctness of a
strategy for the chess KRK endgame. The final, machine verifiable, result
presented in this paper is that there is a winning strategy for white in the
KRK endgame generalized to board (for natural greater than
). We demonstrate that different approaches for computer-based theorem
proving work best together and in synergy and that the technology currently
available is powerful enough for providing significant help to humans deriving
complex proofs
Computer-Assisted Proving of Combinatorial Conjectures Over Finite Domains: A Case Study of a Chess Conjecture
There are several approaches for using computers in deriving mathematical
proofs. For their illustration, we provide an in-depth study of using computer
support for proving one complex combinatorial conjecture -- correctness of a
strategy for the chess KRK endgame. The final, machine verifiable, result
presented in this paper is that there is a winning strategy for white in the
KRK endgame generalized to board (for natural greater than
). We demonstrate that different approaches for computer-based theorem
proving work best together and in synergy and that the technology currently
available is powerful enough for providing significant help to humans deriving
complex proofs
Validation of machine-oriented strategies in chess endgames
This thesis is concerned with the validation of chess endgame
strategies. It is also concerned with the synthesis of strategies
that can be validated. A strategy for a given player is the
specification of the move to be made by that player from any
position that may occur. This move may be dependent on the
previous moves of both sides. A strategy is said to be correct if
following the strategy always leads to an outcome of at least the
same game theoretic value as the starting position. We are not concerned with proving the correctness of programs
that implement the strategies under consideration. We shall be
working with knowledge-based programs which produce playing
strategies, and assume that their concrete implementations (in
POP2, PROLOG etc.) are correct. The synthesis approach taken attempts to use the large body
of heuristic knowledge and theory, accumulated over the centuries by chessmasters, to find playing strategies. Our concern here is
to produce structures for representing a chessmaster's knowledge
wnich can be analysed within a game theoretic model. The validation approach taken is that a theory of the domain
in the form of the game theoretic model of chess provides an objective measure of the
strategy followed by a program. Our concern here is to analyse the
structures created in the synthesis phase. This is an instance of
a general problem, that of quantifying the performance of
computing systems. In general to quantify the performance of a
system we need,- A theory of the domain.
- A specification of the problem to be solved.
- Algorithms and/or domain-specific knowledge to be
applied to solve the problem