A description is given of: (1) a finite-state model for asynchronous systems in which the time delays between the scheduling and occurrence of the events that cause state changes are constrained to fall between fixed numerical upper and lower time bounds; (2) a branching-time temporal logic suitable for describing the temporal and logical properties of asynchronous systems, for which the structures of (1) are the natural models; and (3) a functional verification system for asynchronous circuits which generates, from a Boolean circuit with general feedback and specified min/max rise and fall times for the gates, a finite-state structure as in (1), and then exhaustively checks a formal specification of that circuit in the language (2) against that finite-state model.>

By the word problem for some class of algebraic structures we mean the problem of determining, given a finite set E of equations between words (i.e. terms) and an additional equation x = y , whether x = y must hold in all structures satisfying each member of E . In 1947 Post [P] showed the word problem for semigroups to be undecidable. This result was strengthened in 1950 by Turing, who showed the word problem to be undecidable for cancellation semigroups ,i.e. semigroups satisfying the cancellation property Novikov [N] eventually showed the word problem for groups to be undecidable. (Many flaws in Turing's proof were corrected by Boone [B]. Even after his corrections, at least one problem remains; the sentence on line 16 of p. 502 of [T] does not follow if one relation is principal and the other is a commutation relation. A corrected and somewhat simplified version of Turing's proof can be built on the construction given here.) In 1966 Gurevich [G] showed the word problem to be undecidable for finite semigroups. However, this result on finite structures has not been extended to cancellation semigroups or groups; indeed it is easy to see that a finite cancellation semigroup is a group, so both questions are the same. We do not here settle the word problem for finite groups, but we do show that the word problem is undecidable for finite semigroups with zero (that is, having an element 0 such that x 0 = 0 x = 0 for all x ) satisfying an approximation to the cancellation property (1).

A template dependency is a formalized integrity constraint on a relational database, stating that whenever tuples exist in the database that agree on certain attributes, an additional tuple must also be present that agrees with the others in a specified way. It is shown that the inference problem for template dependencies is undecidable, that is, there can be no algorithm for determining whether a given dependency is a logical consequence of a given finite set of dependencies. The undecidability result holds whether or not databases are considered to be necessarily finite. INTROD UCTION The goal of dependency theory is to formalize constraints on the data comprising a relational database. In general, a dependency is a statement to the effect that when certain tuples are present in the database, so are certain others. Such statements can be used, for example, to capture the idea that attributes are functionally related or independent in some way. Many varieties of dependencies have been proposed in the literature; see the discussions in Fagin (1980) and Yannakakis and Papadimitriou (1980), for example. The proliferation of varieties is due in part to the desire to balance two opposing forces: on the one hand, dependencies should be of a form general enough to express interesting properties, but on the other hand, the form should not be so general that natural questions about dependencies become undecidable or computationally intractable. A significant question about any class of dependencies is its inference problem: Given a finite set D of dependencies and a single dependency D 0, to determine whether D O is true in every database in which each member of D is true. A solution to the inference problem carries with it the ability to determine whether two sets of

Abstract A Krom formula of pure quantification theory is a formula in conjunctive normal form such that each conjunct is a disjunction of at most two atomic formulas or negations of atomic formulas. Every class of Krom formulas that is determined by the form of their quantifier prefixes and which is known to have an unsolvable decision problem for satisfiability is here shown to be a conservative reduction class. Therefore both the general satisfiability problem, and the problem of satisfiability in finite models, can be effectively reduced from arbitrary formulas to Krom formulas of these several prefix types.

It is shown that the general inference problem for embedded implicational dependencies (EIDs) is undecidable. For the more important case of finite inference (i.e., inference for finite data bases), the problem is not even recursively enumerable (r.e.); rather, it is complete in co-r.e. These results hold even for typed EIDs without equality, as well as for (untyped) template dependencies. The case for typed template dependencies remains open. The complexity of the inference problem for full dependencies has also been characterized - it is complete in exponential time for full implicational dependencies, and even for full typed template dependencies.

We analyze the computational complexity of determining whether F is satisfiable when F is a formula of the classical predicate calculus which obeys certain syntactic restrictions. For example, for the monadic predicate calculus and the Gödel or ∃ ... ∃∀∀∃ ... ∃ prefix class we obtain lower and upper nondeterministic time bounds of the form cn/log n. The main tool in in these proofs is a finite version of Wang's domino problem, about which we present an interesting open question.

An efficient algorithm for displaying 3-D scenes showing a discrete spatially varying surface is described. Given a 2-D map or planar graph composed of polygons where each polygon has a positive real number attribute, a prism is erected on each polygon with height proportional to that attribute. The resulting 3-D scene is plotted with shading and hidden lines removed. Thus the spatial variation of the attribute may be quickly and intuitively grasped by the nontechnical observer. This has applications to areas such as geography if the map is a cartographic map, or to physics if the map diagrams the periodic table. The algorithm takes time O(N*log(N)) where N is the number of edges in the map. Most of the calculations can be done without knowing the prism heights so extra plots with different attributes for the prisms can be produced quickly. This algorithm has been implemented and tested on maps of up to 12000 edges.

No abstract available.

A number of decision problems that are unsolvable in general are solvable when restricted to systems with sufficiently simple "loop structure". Examples of such problems are the equivalence problems for flowchart schemata with nonintersecting loops and for the LOOP(l) programs of Meyer and Ritchie. We here present a theorem that gives a unifying view of the solvability of both of these problems, and also of a variety of other old and new solvable decision problems in automata theory, schematology, and logic.

In his thesis Paterson proved that equivalence is decidable for program schemata such that every instruction falls on at most one loop and only monadic function signs appear. Here we remove the restriction on function signs. The problem reduces to that of showing that the numerical exponents which satisfy certain word equations over a semigroup of acyclic directed graphs may be characterized by sentences of Presburger arithmetic; these exponents correspond to loop coefficients of the program schemata. The central construction is a finite automaton whose memory is a window of bounded size on an acyclic directed graph corresponding to a solution to such a word equation.

This paper is concerned with difficult global flow problems which require the symbolic evaluation of programs. We use, as is common in global flow analysis, a model in which the expressions computed are specified, but the flow of control is indicated only by a directed graph whose nodes are blocks of assignment statements. We show that if such a program model is interpreted in the domain of integer arithmetic then many natural global flow problems are unsolvable. We then develop a direct (non-iterative) method for finding general symbolic values for program expressions. Our method gives results similar to an iterative method due to Kildall and a direct method due to Fong, Kam, and Ullman. By means of a structure called the global value graph which compactly represents both symbolic values and the flow of these values through the program, we are able to obtain results that are as strong as either of these algorithms at a lower time cost, while retaining applicability to all flow graphs.

Let Kr be the class of all those quantificational formulas whose matrices are conjunctions of binary disjunctions of signed atomic formulas. Decision problems for subclasses of Kr do not invariably coincide with those for the corresponding classes of quantificational formulas with unrestricted matrices; for example, the ∀∃∀ prefix subclass of Kr is solvable, but the full ∀∃∀ class is not ([AaLe],- [KMW]). Moreover, the straightforward encodings of automata which have been used to show the unsolvability of various subclasses of Kr ([Aa], [Bö], [AaLe]) yield but little information about signature subclasses, i.e. subclasses determined by the number and degrees of the predicate letters occurring in a formula. By a new and highly complex construction Theorem 1 establishes the best possible result on classification by signature. Theorem 1. Let C be the class of all formulas in Kr with a single predicate letter, which is dyadic; then C is a reduction class for satisfiability. Thus a signature subclass of Kr is solvable just in case the corresponding class of unrestricted quantificational formulas is solvable, to wit, just in case no predicate letter of degree exceeding one may occur. To obtain a richer classification by signature we consider further restrictions on the matrix. Let Or be the class of formulas in Kr having disjunctive normal forms with only two disjuncts. Theorem 2 sharpens Orevkov's proof of the unsolvability of Or ([Or]; see also [LeGo]). Theorem 2. Let D be the class of formulas in Or with just two predicate letters, both pentadic; then D is a reduction class for satisfiability.

Among the earliest and best-known theorems on the decision problem is Skolem's result [7] that the class of all closed formulas with prefixes of the form ∀···∀∃···∃ is a reduction class for satisfiability for the whole of quantification theory. This result can be refined in various ways. If the Skolem prefix alone is considered, the best result [8] is that the ∀∀∀∃ class is a reduction class, for Gödel [3], Kalmár [4], and Schütte [6] showed the ∀∀∃···∃ class to be solvable. The purpose of this paper is to describe the more complex situation that arises when (Skolem) formulas are restricted with respect to the arguments of their atomic subformulas. Before stating our theorem, we must introduce some notation. Let x, y1, y2, be distinct variables (we shall use v1, v2, ··· and w1, w2, ··· as metavariables ranging over these variables), and for each i ≥ 1 let Y(i) be the set {y1, ···, yi}. An atomic formula Pv1 ··· vk will be said to be {v1, ···, vk}-based. For any n ≥ 1, p ≥ 1, and any subsets Y1, ··· Yp of Y(n), let C(n, Y1, ···, Yp) be the class of all those closed formulas with prefix ∀y1 ··· ∀yn∃x such that each atomic subformula not containing the variable x is Yi-based for some i, 1 ≤ i ≤ p.

Let Q be the class of closed quantificational formulas ∀x∃u∀yM without identity such that M is a quantifier-free matrix containing only monadic and dyadic predicate letters and containing no atomic subformula of the form Pyx or Puy for any predicate letter P. In [DKW] Dreben, Kahr, and Wang conjectured that Q is a solvable class for satisfiability and indeed contains no formula having only infinite models. As evidence for this conjecture they noted the solvability of the subclass of Q consisting of those formulas whose atomic subformulas are of only the two forms Pxy, Pyu and the fact that each such formula that has a model has a finite model. Furthermore, it seemed likely that the techniques used to show this subclass solvable could be extended to show the solvability of the full class Q, while the syntax of Q is so restricted that it seemed impossible to express in formulas of Q any unsolvable problem known at that time. In 1966 Aanderaa refuted this conjecture. He first constructed a very complex formula in Q having an infinite model but no finite model, and then, by an extremely intricate argument, showed that Q (in fact, the subclass Q2 defined below) is unsolvable ([Aa1], [Aa2]). In this paper we develop stronger tools in order to simplify and extend the results of [Aa2]. Specifically, we show the unsolvability of an apparently new combinatorial problem, which we shall call the linear sampling problem (defined in §1.2 and §2.3). From the unsolvability of this problem there follows the unsolvability of two proper subclasses of Q, which we now define. For each i ≥ 0, let Pi be a dyadic predicate letter and let Ri be a monadic predicate letter.

In this paper we consider decision problems for subclasses of Kr, the class of those formulas of pure quantification theory whose matrices are conjunctions of binary disjunctions of signed atomic formulas. If each of Q1, …, Qn is an ∀ or an ∃, then let Q1 … Qn be the class of those closed prenex formulas with prefixes of the form (Q1x1)… (Qnxn). Our results may then be stated as follows: Theorem 1. The decision problem for satisfiability is solvable for the class ∀∃∀ ∩ Kr. Theorem 2. The classes ∀∃∀∀ ∩ Kr and ∀∀∃∀ ∩ Kr are reduction classes for satisfiability. Maslov [11] showed that the class ∃…∃∀…∀∃…∃ ∩ Kr is solvable, while the first author [1, Corollary 4] showed ∃∀∃∀ ∩ Kr and ∀∃∃∀ ∩ Kr to be reduction classes. Thus the only prefix subclass of Kr for which the decision problem remains open is ∀∃∀∃…∃∩ Kr. The class ∀∃∀ ∩ Kr, though solvable, contains formulas whose only models are infinite (e.g., (∀x)(∃u)(∀y)[(Pxy ∨ Pyx) ∧ (¬ Pxy ∨ ¬Pyu)], which can be satisfied over the integers by taking P to be ≥). This is not the case for Maslov's class ∃…∃∀…∀∃…∃ ∩ Kr, which contains no formula whose only models are infinite ([2] [5]). Theorem 1 was announced in [1, Theorem 4], but the proof sketched there is defective: Lemma 4 (p. 17) is incorrectly stated. Theorem 2 was announced in [9].

In this paper we consider classes of quantificational formulas specified by restrictions on the number of atomic subformulas appearing in a formula. Little seems to be known about the decision problem for such classes, except that the class whose members contain at most two distinct atomic subformulas is decidable [2]. (We use “decidable” and “undecidable” throughout with respect to satisfiability rather than validity. All undecidable problems to which we refer are of maximal r.e. degree.) The principal result of this paper is the undecidability of the class of those formulas containing five atomic subformulas and with prefixes of the form ∀∃∀…∀. In fact, we show the undecidability of two sub-classes of this class: one (Theorem 1) consists of formulas whose matrices are in disjunctive normal form with two disjuncts; the other (Corollary 1) consists of formulas whose matrices are in conjunctive normal form with three conjuncts. (Theorem 1 sharpens Orevkov's result [8] that the class of formulas in disjunctive normal form with two disjuncts is undecidable.) A second corollary of Theorem 1 shows the undecidability of the class of formulas with prefixes of the form ∀…∀∃, containing six atomic subformulas, and in conjunctive normal form with three conjuncts. These restrictions to prefixes ∀∃∀…∀ and ∀…∀∃ are optimal. For by a result of the first author [5], any class of prenex formulas obtained by restricting both the number of atomic formulas and the number of universal quantifiers is reducible to a finite class of formulas, and so each such class is decidable; and the class of formulas with prefixes ∃…∃∀…∀ is, of course, decidable.