Propositional proof complexity is the study of the sizes of propositional proofs, and more generally, the resources necessary to certify propositional tautologies. Questions about proof sizes have connections with computational complexity, theories of arithmetic, and satisfiability algorithms. This is article includes a broad survey of the field, and a technical exposition of some recently developed techniques for proving lower bounds on proof sizes.

We give a new characterization of the strict $$\forall {\Sigma^b_j}$$ sentences provable using $${\Sigma^b_k}$$ induction, for 1 ≤ j ≤ k. As a small application we show that, in a certain sense, Buss’s witnessing theorem for strict $${\Sigma^b_k}$$ formulas already holds over the relatively weak theory PV. We exhibit a combinatorial principle with the property that a lower bound for it in constant-depth Frege would imply that the narrow CNFs with short depth j Frege refutations form a strict hierarchy with (...) j, and hence that the relativized bounded arithmetic hierarchy can be separated by a family of $$\forall {\Sigma^b_1}$$ sentences. (shrink)

In proof theory one distinguishes sequent proofs with cut and cut-free sequent proofs, while for proof complexity one distinguishes Frege systems and extended Frege systems. In this paper we show how deep inference can provide a uniform treatment for both classifications, such that we can define cut-free systems with extension, which is neither possible with Frege systems, nor with the sequent calculus. We show that the propositional pigeonhole principle admits polynomial-size proofs in a cut-free system with extension. We also define (...) cut-free systems with substitution and show that the cut-free system with extension p-simulates the cut-free system with substitution. (shrink)

We introduce three formal theories of increasing strength for linear algebra in order to study the complexity of the concepts needed to prove the basic theorems of the subject. We give what is apparently the first feasible proofs of the Cayley–Hamilton theorem and other properties of the determinant, and study the propositional proof complexity of matrix identities such as AB=I→BA=I.

Propositional proof complexity is the study of the sizes of propositional proofs, and more generally, the resources necessary to certify propositional tautologies. Questions about proof sizes have connections with computational complexity, theories of arithmetic, and satisfiability algorithms. This is article includes a broad survey of the field, and a technical exposition of some recently developed techniques for proving lower bounds on proof sizes.

It is shown that the elementary principles Count and Count are logically independent in the system IΔ0 of Bounded Arithmetic. More specifically it is shown that Count implies Count exactly when each prime factor in p is a factor in q.

Classical propositional logic plays a prominent role in industrial applications, and yet the complexity of this logic is presumed to be non-feasible. Tractable systems such as depth-bounded boolean logics approximate classical logic and can be seen as a model for resource-bounded agents whose reasoning style is nonetheless classical. In this paper we first study a hierarchy of tractable logics that is not defined by depth. Then we extend it into a modal logic where modalities make explicit the assumptions discharged in (...) propositional proofs, thereby expressing blueprints for proofs. A natural deduction system is provided that permits to reason about and manage such proof blueprints. (shrink)

The paper considers a commonly used axiomatization of the classical propositional logic and studies how different axiom schemata in this system contribute to proof complexity of the logic. The existence of a polynomial bound on proof complexity of every statement provable in this logic is a well-known open question.The axiomatization consists of three schemata. We show that any statement provable using unrestricted number of axioms from the first of the three schemata and polynomially-bounded in size set of axioms from the (...) other schemata, has a polynomially-bounded proof complexity. In addition, it is also established, that any statement, provable using unrestricted number of axioms from the remaining two schemata and polynomially-bounded in size set of axioms from the first scheme, also has a polynomially-bounded proof complexity. (shrink)

ABSTRACTIn this paper, we present a generalisation of proof simulation procedures for Frege systems by Bonet and Buss to some logics for which the deduction theorem does not hold. In particular, we study the case of finite-valued Łukasiewicz logics. To this end, we provide proof systems and which augment Avron's Frege system HŁuk with nested and general versions of the disjunction elimination rule, respectively. For these systems, we provide upper bounds on speed-ups w.r.t. both the number of steps in proofs (...) and the length of proofs. We also consider Tamminga's natural deduction and Avron's hypersequent calculus GŁuk for 3-valued Łukasiewicz logic and generalise our results considering the disjunction elimination rule to all finite-valued Łukasiewicz logics. (shrink)

The following inference is valid: There are exactly 101 dalmatians, There are exactly 100 food bowls, Each dalmatian uses exactly one food bowl Hence, at least two dalmatians use the same food bowl. Here, “there are at least 101 dalmatians” is nominalized as, "x1"x2…."x100$y(Dy & y ¹ x1 & y ¹ x2 & … & y ¹ x100) and “there are exactly 101 dalmatians” is nominalized as, "x1"x2…."x100$y(Dy & y ¹ x1 & y ¹ x2 & … & y ¹ (...) x100) & Ø"x1"x2…."x101$y(Dy & y ¹ x1 & y ¹ x2 & … & y ¹ x101). This is abbreviated $101xDx. The validity of the above inference corresponds to the valid formula, PHP(100): [$101xDx & $100xFx & "x(Dx ® Ff(x))] ® $x1$x2(Dx1 & Dx2 & x1 ¹ x2 & f(x1) = f(x2)). More generally, for variable n, the formula PHP(n) is PHP(n): [$n+1xDx & $nxFx & "x(Dx ® Ff(x))] ® $x1$x2(Dx1 & Dx2 & x1 ¹ x2 & f(x1) = f(x2)). A mathematical proof that PHP(n) is valid, for all n > 0, is quite short (less than a page), but refers to numbers, functions and sets. It uses the Pigeonhole Principle. This explains why PHP(n) is valid, for all n>0. However, I estimate that a predicate calculus derivation of PHP(100), using natural deduction, say, would require around 107 symbols. Unfeasibility Problem: nominalism is the radical anti-realist view that there are no numbers, functions or sets. So, how could a nominalist know that PHP(100) is valid, without directly performing the rather long derivation? Can the nominalist “ride piggyback” on the standard mathematical proof? If so, how is this justified? (shrink)

Atserias, Galesi, and Pudlák have shown that the monotone sequent calculus MLK quasipolynomially simulates proofs of monotone sequents in the full sequent calculus LK . We generalize the simulation to the fragment MCLK of LK which can prove arbitrary sequents, but restricts cut-formulas to be monotone. We also show that MLK as a refutation system for CNFs quasipolynomially simulates LK.

We investigate the substitution Frege () proof system and its relationship to extended Frege () in the context of modal and superintuitionistic propositional logics. We show that is p-equivalent to tree-like , and we develop a “normal form” for -proofs. We establish connections between for a logic L, and for certain bimodal expansions of L.We then turn attention to specific families of modal and si logics. We prove p-equivalence of and for all extensions of , all tabular logics, all logics (...) of finite depth and width, and typical examples of logics of finite width and infinite depth. In most cases, we actually show an equivalence with the usual system for classical logic with respect to a naturally defined translation.On the other hand, we establish exponential speed-up of over for all modal and si logics of infinite branching, extending recent lower bounds by P. Hrubeš. We develop a model-theoretical characterization of maximal logics of infinite branching to prove this result. (shrink)

We give proofs of the effective monotone interpolation property for the system of modal logic K, and others, and the system IL of intuitionistic propositional logic. Hence we obtain exponential lower bounds on the number of proof-lines in those systems. The main results have been given in [P. Hrubeš, Lower bounds for modal logics, Journal of Symbolic Logic 72 941–958; P. Hrubeš, A lower bound for intuitionistic logic, Annals of Pure and Applied Logic 146 72–90]; here, we give considerably simplified (...) proofs, as well as some generalisations. (shrink)

We give an exponential lower bound on the number of proof-lines in intuitionistic propositional logic, IL, axiomatised in the usual Frege-style fashion; i.e., we give an example of IL-tautologies A1,A2,… s.t. every IL-proof of Ai must have a number of proof-lines exponential in terms of the size of Ai. We show that the results do not apply to the system of classical logic and we obtain an exponential speed-up between classical and intuitionistic logic.

This paper is a continuation of dag-like proof compression research initiated in [9]. We investigate proof compression phenomenon in a particular, most transparent case of propositional DNF Logic. We define and analyze a very efficient semi-analytic sequent calculus SEQ*0 for propositional DNF. The efficiency is achieved by adding two special rules CQ and CS; the latter rule is a variant of the weakened substitution rule WS from [9], while the former one being specially designed for DNF sequents. We show that (...) dag-like SEQ*0 has good deterministic proof search strategy. Furthermore, we expose six examples showing that dag-like deducibility in SEQ*0 admits exponential-size proof compression, as compared to familiar proof systems like cutfree sequent calculi, resolution and cutting plane proof systems. (shrink)

Many times in mathematics there is a natural dichotomy betweendescribing some object from the inside and from the outside. Imaginealgebraic varieties for instance; they can be described from theoutside as solution sets of polynomial equations, but one can also tryto understand how it is for actual points to move around inside them,perhaps to parameterize them in some way. The concept of formalproofs has the interesting feature that it provides opportunities forboth perspectives. The inner perspective has been largely overlooked,but in fact (...) lengths of proofs lead to new ways to measure informationcontent of mathematical objects. The disparity between minimallengths of proofs with and without ``lemmas'' provides an indicationof internal symmetry of mathematical objects and their descriptions.A principal observation of this paper is that mathematicalstructures can be embedded into spaces of logical formulae and inheritadditional structure from proofs. We shall look at finitely-generatedgroups, rational numbers and SL(2,Z), and examples fromtopology and analysis. (shrink)

We survey the best known lower bounds on symbols and lines in Frege and extended Frege proofs. We prove that in minimum length sequent calculus proofs, no formula is generated twice or used twice on any single branch of the proof. We prove that the number of distinct subformulas in a minimum length Frege proof is linearly bounded by the number of lines. Depthd Frege proofs ofm lines can be transformed into depthd proofs ofO(m d+1) symbols. We show that renaming (...) Frege proof systems are p-equivalent to extended Frege systems. Some open problems in propositional proof length and in logical flow graphs are discussed. (shrink)

Partial consistency statements can be expressed as polynomial-size propositional formulas. Frege proof systems have polynomial-size partial self-consistency proofs. Frege proof systems have polynomial-size proofs of partial consistency of extended Frege proof systems if and only if Frege proof systems polynomially simulate extended Frege proof systems. We give a new proof of Reckhow's theorem that any two Frege proof systems p-simulate each other. The proofs depend on polynomial size propositional formulas defining the truth of propositional formulas. These are already known to (...) exist since the Boolean formula value problem is in alternating logarithmic time; this paper presents a proof of this fact based on a construction which is somewhat simpler than the prior proofs of Buss and of Buss-Cook- Gupta-Ramachandran. (shrink)

We give a combinatorial analysis (using edge expansion) of a variant of the iterative expander construction due to Reingold, Vadhan, and Wigderson [44], and show that this analysis can be formalized in the bounded arithmetic system VNC^1 (corresponding to the “NC^1 reasoning”). As a corollary, we prove the assumption made by Jeřábek [28] that a construction of certain bipartite expander graphs can be formalized in VNC^1 . This in turn implies that every proof in Gentzen's sequent calculus LK of a (...) monotone sequent can be simulated in the monotone version of LK (MLK) with only polynomial blowup in proof size, strengthening the quasipolynomial simulation result of Atserias, Galesi, and Pudlák [9]. (shrink)

Originating from work in operations research the cutting plane refutation systemCP is an extension of resolution, where unsatisfiable propositional logic formulas in conjunctive normal form are recognized by showing the non-existence of boolean solutions to associated families of linear inequalities. Polynomial sizeCP proofs are given for the undirecteds-t connectivity principle. The subsystemsCP q ofCP, forq≥2, are shown to be polynomially equivalent toCP, thus answering problem 19 from the list of open problems of [8]. We present a normal form theorem forCP (...) 2-proofs and thereby for arbitraryCP-proofs. As a corollary, we show that the coefficients and constant terms in arbitrary cutting plane proofs may be exponentially bounded by the number of steps in the proof, at the cost of an at most polynomial increase in the number of steps in the proof. The extensionCPLE +, introduced in [9] and there shown top-simulate Frege systems, is proved to be polynomially equivalent to Frege systems. Lastly, since linear inequalities are related to threshold gates, we introduce a new threshold logic and prove a completeness theorem. (shrink)

The purpose of this paper is to survey the correspondence between bounded arithmetic and propositional proof systems. In addition, it also contains some new results which have appeared as an extended abstract in the proceedings of the conference TAMC 2008 [11].Bounded arithmetic is closely related to propositional proof systems; this relation has found many fruitful applications. The aim of this paper is to explain and develop the general correspondence between propositional proof systems and arithmetic theories, as introduced by Krajíček and (...) Pudlák [46]. Instead of focusing on the relation between particular proof systems and theories, we favour a general axiomatic approach to this correspondence. In the course of the development we particularly highlight the role played by logical closure properties of propositional proof systems, thereby obtaining a characterization of extensions of EF in terms of a simple combination of these closure properties (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim). (shrink)

The combinatorial parity principle states that there is no perfect matching on an odd number of vertices. This principle generalizes the pigeonhole principle, which states that for a fixed bipartition of the vertices, there is no perfect matching between them. Therefore, it follows from recent lower bounds for the pigeonhole principle that the parity principle requires exponential-size bounded-depth Frege proofs. Ajtai previously showed that the parity principle does not have polynomial-size bounded-depth Frege proofs even with the pigeonhole principle as an (...) axiom schema. His proof utilizes nonstandard model theory and is nonconstructive. We improve Ajtai's lower bound from barely superpolynomial to exponential and eliminate the nonstandard model theory. Our lower bound is also related to the inherent complexity of particular search classes . In particular, oracle separations between the complexity classes PPA and PPAD, and between PPA and PPP also follow from our techniques. (shrink)

We describe a method of forcing against weak theories of arithmetic and its applications in propositional proof complexity.

In this paper we introduce a system AID of bounded arithmetic. The main feature of AID is to allow a form of inductive definitions, which was extracted from Buss’ propositional consistency proof of Frege systems F in Buss 3–29). We show that AID proves the soundness of F , and conversely any Σ 0 b -theorem in AID yields boolean sentences of which F has polysize proofs. Further we define Σ 1 b -faithful interpretations between AID+Σ 0 b -CA and (...) a quantified theory QALV of an equational system ALV in Clote 57–106). Hence ALV also proves the soundness of F. (shrink)

We extend results of Bonet, Buss and Pitassi on Bondy’s Theorem and of Nozaki, Arai and Arai on Bollobás’ Theorem by proving that Frankl’s Theorem on the trace of sets has quasipolynomial size Frege proofs. For constant values of the parametert, we prove that Frankl’s Theorem has polynomial size AC0-Frege proofs from instances of the pigeonhole principle.