| Research Paper #934 | 
      | Title: | Automating the synthesis of decision procedures in a constructive metatheory | 
      | Authors: | Armando,A; Gallagher,J; Smaill,AD; Bundy,A | 
      | Date: | Nov 1998 | 
      | Presented: | Accepted  for publication in Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence | 
      | Keywords: |  | 
      | Abstract: | We present an approach to the automatic construction of decision procedures, via a detailed example in propositional logic.  The approach adapts the methods of proof-planning and the heuristics for induction to a new domain, that of meta-theoretical procedures.  This approach starts by providing an alternative characterisation of validity;  the proofs of that correctness and completeness of this characterisation, and the existence of a decision procedure, are then amenable to automation in the way we describe.  In this paper we identify a set of principled extensions to the heuristics for induction needed to tackle the proof obligations arising in the new problem domain and discuss their integration within the CLAM-Oyster system. | 
      | Download: | POSTSCRIPT COPY |