The Automation Of Proof By Mathematical Induction

Abstract

This paper is a chapter of the Handbook of Automated Reasoning edited by Voronkov and Robinson. It describes techniques for automated reasoning in theories containing rules of mathematical induction. Firstly, inductive reasoning is defined and its importance fore reasoning about any form of repitition is stressed. Then the special search problems that arise in inductive theories are explained followed by descriptions of the heuristic methods that have been devised to solve these problems.