Automated Generation of User Guidance by Combining Computation and Deduction

Herewith, a fairly old concept is published for the first time and named "Lucas Interpretation". This has been implemented in a prototype, which has been proved useful in educational practice and has gained academic relevance with an emerging generation of educational mathematics assistants (EMA) based on Computer Theorem Proving (CTP). Automated Theorem Proving (ATP), i.e. deduction, is the most reliable technology used to check user input. However ATP is inherently weak in automatically generating solutions for arbitrary problems in applied mathematics. This weakness is crucial for EMAs: when ATP checks user input as incorrect and the learner gets stuck then the system should be able to suggest possible next steps. The key idea of Lucas Interpretation is to compute the steps of a calculation following a program written in a novel CTP-based programming language, i.e. computation provides the next steps. User guidance is generated by combining deduction and computation: the latter is performed by a specific language interpreter, which works like a debugger and hands over control to the learner at breakpoints, i.e. tactics generating the steps of calculation. The interpreter also builds up logical contexts providing ATP with the data required for checking user input, thus combining computation and deduction. The paper describes the concepts underlying Lucas Interpretation so that open questions can adequately be addressed, and prerequisites for further work are provided.Comment: In Proceedings THedu'11, arXiv:1202.453

Proceedings 11th International Workshop on Theorem Proving Components for Educational Software

The ThEdu series pursues the smooth transition from an intuitive way of doing mathematics at secondary school to a more formal approach to the subject in STEM education, while favouring software support for this transition by exploiting the power of theorem-proving technologies. What follows is a brief description of how the present volume contributes to this enterprise. The 11th International Workshop on Theorem Proving Components for Educational Software (ThEdu'22), was a satellite event of the 8th Federated Logic Conference (FLoC 2022), July 31-August 12, 2022, Haifa, Israel ThEdu'22 was a vibrant workshop, with two invited talk by Thierry Dana-Picard (Jerusalem College of Technology, Jerusalem, Israel) and Yoni Zohar (Bar Ilan University, Tel Aviv, Israel) and four contributions. An open call for papers was then issued, and attracted seven submissions. Those submissions have been accepted by our reviewers, who jointly produced at least three careful reports on each of the contributions. The resulting revised papers are collected in the present volume. The contributions in this volume are a faithful representation of the wide spectrum of ThEdu, ranging from those more focused on the automated deduction research, not losing track of the possible applications in an educational setting, to those focused on the applications, in educational settings, of automated deduction tools and methods. We, the volume editors, hope that this collection of papers will further promote the development of theorem-proving based software, and that it will allow to improve the mutual understanding between computer scientists, mathematicians and stakeholders in education. While this volume goes to press, the next edition of the ThEdu workshop is being prepared: ThEdu'23 will be a satellite event of the 29th international Conference on Automated Deduction (CADE 2023), July 1-4, 2023, Rome, Italy