3,131 research outputs found
The foundation of a generic theorem prover
Isabelle is an interactive theorem prover that supports a variety of logics.
It represents rules as propositions (not as functions) and builds proofs by
combining rules. These operations constitute a meta-logic (or `logical
framework') in which the object-logics are formalized. Isabelle is now based on
higher-order logic -- a precise and well-understood foundation. Examples
illustrate use of this meta-logic to formalize logics and proofs. Axioms for
first-order logic are shown sound and complete. Backwards proof is formalized
by meta-reasoning about object-level entailment. Higher-order logic has several
practical advantages over other meta-logics. Many proof techniques are known,
such as Huet's higher-order unification procedure
Towards the Formal Reliability Analysis of Oil and Gas Pipelines
It is customary to assess the reliability of underground oil and gas
pipelines in the presence of excessive loading and corrosion effects to ensure
a leak-free transport of hazardous materials. The main idea behind this
reliability analysis is to model the given pipeline system as a Reliability
Block Diagram (RBD) of segments such that the reliability of an individual
pipeline segment can be represented by a random variable. Traditionally,
computer simulation is used to perform this reliability analysis but it
provides approximate results and requires an enormous amount of CPU time for
attaining reasonable estimates. Due to its approximate nature, simulation is
not very suitable for analyzing safety-critical systems like oil and gas
pipelines, where even minor analysis flaws may result in catastrophic
consequences. As an accurate alternative, we propose to use a
higher-order-logic theorem prover (HOL) for the reliability analysis of
pipelines. As a first step towards this idea, this paper provides a
higher-order-logic formalization of reliability and the series RBD using the
HOL theorem prover. For illustration, we present the formal analysis of a
simple pipeline that can be modeled as a series RBD of segments with
exponentially distributed failure times.Comment: 15 page
Verifying Safety Properties With the TLA+ Proof System
TLAPS, the TLA+ proof system, is a platform for the development and
mechanical verification of TLA+ proofs written in a declarative style requiring
little background beyond elementary mathematics. The language supports
hierarchical and non-linear proof construction and verification, and it is
independent of any verification tool or strategy. A Proof Manager uses backend
verifiers such as theorem provers, proof assistants, SMT solvers, and decision
procedures to check TLA+ proofs. This paper documents the first public release
of TLAPS, distributed with a BSD-like license. It handles almost all the
non-temporal part of TLA+ as well as the temporal reasoning needed to prove
standard safety properties, in particular invariance and step simulation, but
not liveness properties
A Graphical Language for Proof Strategies
Complex automated proof strategies are often difficult to extract, visualise,
modify, and debug. Traditional tactic languages, often based on stack-based
goal propagation, make it easy to write proofs that obscure the flow of goals
between tactics and are fragile to minor changes in input, proof structure or
changes to tactics themselves. Here, we address this by introducing a graphical
language called PSGraph for writing proof strategies. Strategies are
constructed visually by "wiring together" collections of tactics and evaluated
by propagating goal nodes through the diagram via graph rewriting. Tactic nodes
can have many output wires, and use a filtering procedure based on goal-types
(predicates describing the features of a goal) to decide where best to send
newly-generated sub-goals.
In addition to making the flow of goal information explicit, the graphical
language can fulfil the role of many tacticals using visual idioms like
branching, merging, and feedback loops. We argue that this language enables
development of more robust proof strategies and provide several examples, along
with a prototype implementation in Isabelle
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