Towards Practical Reflection for Formal Mathematics
Martin Giese, Bruno Buchberger · 2007
Abstract. We describe a design for a system for mathematical theory exploration that can be extended by implementing new reasoners using the logical input language of the system. Such new reasoners can be applied like the built-in reasoners, and it is possible to reason about them, e.g. proving their soundness, within the system. This is achieved in a practical and attractive way by adding reflection, i.e. a representation mechanism for terms and formulae, to the system’s logical language, and some knowledge about these entities to the system’s basic reasoners. The approach has been evaluated using a prototypical implementation called Mini-Tma. It will be incorporated into the Theorema system. 1