doc-src/TutorialI/Misc/document/Itrev.tex
changeset 9844 8016321c7de1
parent 9792 bbefb6ce5cb2
child 9924 3370f6aa3200
--- a/doc-src/TutorialI/Misc/document/Itrev.tex	Tue Sep 05 13:12:00 2000 +0200
+++ b/doc-src/TutorialI/Misc/document/Itrev.tex	Tue Sep 05 13:53:39 2000 +0200
@@ -1,7 +1,33 @@
 %
 \begin{isabellebody}%
 %
+\isamarkupsection{Induction heuristics}
+%
 \begin{isamarkuptext}%
+\label{sec:InductionHeuristics}
+The purpose of this section is to illustrate some simple heuristics for
+inductive proofs. The first one we have already mentioned in our initial
+example:
+\begin{quote}
+\emph{Theorems about recursive functions are proved by induction.}
+\end{quote}
+In case the function has more than one argument
+\begin{quote}
+\emph{Do induction on argument number $i$ if the function is defined by
+recursion in argument number $i$.}
+\end{quote}
+When we look at the proof of \isa{{\isachardoublequote}{\isacharparenleft}xs\ {\isacharat}\ ys{\isacharparenright}\ {\isacharat}\ zs\ {\isacharequal}\ xs\ {\isacharat}\ {\isacharparenleft}ys\ {\isacharat}\ zs{\isacharparenright}{\isachardoublequote}}
+in \S\ref{sec:intro-proof} we find (a) \isa{{\isacharat}} is recursive in
+the first argument, (b) \isa{xs} occurs only as the first argument of
+\isa{{\isacharat}}, and (c) both \isa{ys} and \isa{zs} occur at least once as
+the second argument of \isa{{\isacharat}}. Hence it is natural to perform induction
+on \isa{xs}.
+
+The key heuristic, and the main point of this section, is to
+generalize the goal before induction. The reason is simple: if the goal is
+too specific, the induction hypothesis is too weak to allow the induction
+step to go through. Let us now illustrate the idea with an example.
+
 Function \isa{rev} has quadratic worst-case running time
 because it calls function \isa{{\isacharat}} for each element of the list and
 \isa{{\isacharat}} is linear in its first argument.  A linear time version of
@@ -32,7 +58,7 @@
 \begin{isamarkuptxt}%
 \noindent
 Unfortunately, this is not a complete success:
-\begin{isabelle}
+\begin{isabelle}\makeatother
 ~1.~\dots~itrev~list~[]~=~rev~list~{\isasymLongrightarrow}~itrev~list~[a]~=~rev~list~@~[a]%
 \end{isabelle}
 Just as predicted above, the overall goal, and hence the induction
@@ -57,7 +83,7 @@
 Although we now have two variables, only \isa{xs} is suitable for
 induction, and we repeat our above proof attempt. Unfortunately, we are still
 not there:
-\begin{isabelle}
+\begin{isabelle}\makeatother
 ~1.~{\isasymAnd}a~list.\isanewline
 ~~~~~~~itrev~list~ys~=~rev~list~@~ys~{\isasymLongrightarrow}\isanewline
 ~~~~~~~itrev~list~(a~\#~ys)~=~rev~list~@~a~\#~ys
@@ -69,7 +95,7 @@
 for all \isa{ys} instead of a fixed one:%
 \end{isamarkuptxt}%
 \isacommand{lemma}\ {\isachardoublequote}{\isasymforall}ys{\isachardot}\ itrev\ xs\ ys\ {\isacharequal}\ rev\ xs\ {\isacharat}\ ys{\isachardoublequote}%
-\begin{isamarkuptxt}%
+\begin{isamarkuptext}%
 \noindent
 This time induction on \isa{xs} followed by simplification succeeds. This
 leads to another heuristic for generalization:
@@ -87,8 +113,20 @@
 need to generalize your proposition even further. This requires insight into
 the problem at hand and is beyond simple rules of thumb. In a nutshell: you
 will need to be creative. Additionally, you can read \S\ref{sec:advanced-ind}
-to learn about some advanced techniques for inductive proofs.%
-\end{isamarkuptxt}%
+to learn about some advanced techniques for inductive proofs.
+
+A final point worth mentioning is the orientation of the equation we just
+proved: the more complex notion (\isa{itrev}) is on the left-hand
+side, the simpler one (\isa{rev}) on the right-hand side. This constitutes
+another, albeit weak heuristic that is not restricted to induction:
+\begin{quote}
+  \emph{The right-hand side of an equation should (in some sense) be simpler
+    than the left-hand side.}
+\end{quote}
+This heuristic is tricky to apply because it is not obvious that
+\isa{rev\ xs\ {\isacharat}\ ys} is simpler than \isa{itrev\ xs\ ys}. But see what
+happens if you try to prove \isa{rev\ xs\ {\isacharat}\ ys\ {\isacharequal}\ itrev\ xs\ ys}!%
+\end{isamarkuptext}%
 \end{isabellebody}%
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