Sets with Cardinality Constraints in Satisfiability Modulo Theories

Boolean Algebra with Presburger Arithmetic (BAPA) is a decidable logic that can express constraints on sets of elements and their cardinalities. Problems from verification of complex properties of software often contain fragments that belong to quantifier-free BAPA (QFBAPA). in contrast to many other NP-complete problems (such as quantifier-free first-order logic or linear arithmetic), the applications of QFBAPA to a broader set of problems has so far been hindered by the lack of an efficient implementation that can be used alongside other efficient decision procedures. We overcome these limitations by extending the efficient SMT solver Z3 with the ability to reason about cardinality (QFBAPA) constraints. Our implementation uses the DPLL(T) mechanism of Z3 to reason about the top-level propositional structure of a QFBAPA formula, improving the efficiency compared to previous implementations. Moreover, we present a new algorithm for automatically decomposing QFBAPA formulas. Our algorithm alleviates the exponential explosion of considering all Venn regions, significantly improving the tractability of formulas with many set variables. Because it is implemented as a theory plugin, our implementation enables Z3 to prove formulas that use QFBAPA constructs with constructs from other theories that Z3 supports, as well as with quantifiers. We have applied our implementation to the verification of functional programs; we show it can automatically prove formulas that no automated approach was reported to be able to prove before.

On Sets with Cardinality Constraints in Satisfiability Modulo Theories

Viktor Kuncak, Robin Steiger, Philippe Paul Henri Suter

Boolean Algebra with Presburger Arithmetic (BAPA) is a decidable logic that can express constraints on sets of elements and their cardinalities. Problems from verification of complex properties of software often contain fragments that belong to quantifier-free BAPA (QFBAPA). Deciding the satisfiability of QFBAPA formulas has been shown to be NP-complete using an eager reduction to quantifier-free Presburger arithmetic that exploits a sparse-solution property. In contrast to many other NP-complete problems (such as quantifier-free first-order logic or linear arithmetic), the applications of QFBAPA to a broader set of problems has so far been hindered by the lack of an efficient implementation that can be used alongside other efficient decision procedures. We overcome these limitations by extending the efficient SMT solver Z3 with the ability to reason about cardinality constraints. Our implementation uses the DPLL(T) mechanism of Z3 to reason about the top-level propositional structure of a QFBAPA formula, improving the efficiency compared to previous implementations. Moreover, we present a new algorithm for automated decomposition of QFBAPA formulas. Our algorithm alleviates the exponential explosion of considering all Venn regions, significantly improving the tractability of formulas with many set variables. Because it is implemented as a theory plugin, our implementation enables Z3 to prove formulas that use QFBAPA constructs alongside constructs from other theories that Z3 supports (e.g. linear arithmetic, uninterpreted function symbols, algebraic data types), as well as in formulas with quantifiers. We have applied our implementation to verification of functional programs; we show it can automatically prove formulas that no automated approach was reported to be able to prove before.

2010

Combining Theories with Shared Set Operations

Viktor Kuncak, Ruzica Piskac

Motivated by applications in software verification, we explore automated reasoning about the non-disjoint combination of theories of infinitely many finite structures, where the theories share set variables and set operations. We prove a combination theorem and apply it to show the decidability of the satisfiability problem for a class of formulas obtained by applying propositional connectives to formulas belonging to: 1) Boolean Algebra with Presburger Arithmetic (with quantifiers over sets and integers), 2) weak monadic second-order logic over trees (with monadic second-order quantifiers), 3) two-variable logic with counting quantifiers (ranging over elements), 4) the EPR class of first-order logic with equality (with existsforall quantifier prefix), and 5) the quantifier-free logic of multisets with cardinality constraints.

Springer2009

Ordered Sets in the Calculus of Data Structures

Viktor Kuncak, Ruzica Piskac, Philippe Paul Henri Suter

Our goal is to identify families of relations that are useful for reasoning about software. We describe such families using decidable quantifier-free classes of logical constraints with a rich set of operations. A key challenge is to define such classes of constraints in a modular way, by combining multiple decidable classes. Working with quantifierfree combinations of constraints makes the combination agenda more realistic and the resulting logics more likely to be tractable than in the presence of quantifiers. Our approach to combination is based on reducing decidable fragments to a common class, Boolean Algebra with Presburger Arithmetic (BAPA). This logic was introduced by Feferman and Vaught in 1959 and can express properties of uninterpreted sets of elements, with set algebra operations and equicardinality relation (consequently, it can also express Presburger arithmetic constraints on cardinalities of sets). Combination by reduction to BAPA allows us to obtain decidable quantifierfree combinations of decidable logics that share BAPA operations. We use the term Calculus of Data Structures to denote a family of decidable constraints that reduce to BAPA. This class includes, for example, combinations of formulas in BAPA, weak monadic second-order logic of k-successors, two-variable logic with counting, and term algebras with certain homomorphisms. The approach of reduction to BAPA generalizes the Nelson-Oppen combination that forms the foundation of constraint solvers used in software verification. BAPA is convenient as a target for reductions because it admits quantifier elimination and its quantifier-free fragment is NP-complete. We describe a new member of the Calculus of Data Structures: a quantifier-free fragment that supports 1) boolean algebra of finite and infinite sets of real numbers, 2) linear arithmetic over real numbers, 3) formulas that can restrict chosen set or element variables to range over integers (providing, among others, the power of mixed integer arithmetic and sets of integers), 4) the cardinality operators, stating whether a given set has a given finite cardinality or is infinite, 5) infimum and supremum operators on sets. Among the applications of this logic are reasoning about the externally observable behavior of data structures such as sorted lists and priority queues, and specifying witness functions for the BAPA synthesis problem. We describe an abstract reduction to BAPA for our logic, proving that the satisfiability of the logic is in NP and that it can be combined with the other fragments of the Calculus of Data Structures.

Springer2010

Ordered Sets in the Calculus of Data Structures

Viktor Kuncak, Ruzica Piskac, Philippe Paul Henri Suter

Springer2010