An Efficient Unification Algorithm：（一个有效的统一算法）.pdfVIP

An Efficient Unification Algorithm ALBERTO MARTELLI Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche and UGO MONTANARI Universita di Pisa The unification problem in fmst-order predicate calculus is described in general terms as the solution of a system of equations, and a nondeterministic algorithm is given. A new unification algorithm, characterized by having the acyclicitytest efficiently embedded into it, is derived from the nondeter- ministic one, and a PASCAL implementation is given. A comparison with other well-known unification algorithms shows that the algorithm described here performs well in all cases. Categories and Subject Descriptors: F.2.2 [Analysis of Algorithms and Problem Complexity]: Nonnumerical Algorithms and Problems--complexity of proof procedures; F.4.1 [Mathematical Logic and Formal Languages]: Mathematical Logic--mechanical theoremproving; 1.2.3 [Artifi- cial Intelligence]: Deduction and Theorem Proving--resolution General Terms: Algorithms, Languages, Performance, Theory 1. INTRODUCTION I n its essence, t h e unification p r o b l e m in f i r s t - o r d e r logic c a n be e x p r e s s e d as follows: G i v e n two t e r m s c o n t a i n i n g s o m e variables, find, if it exists, t h e s i m p l e s t s u b s t i t u t i o n (i.e., a n a s s i g n m e n t of s o m e t e r m to e v e r y variable) w h i c h m a k e s t h e two t e r m s equal. T h e r e s u l t i n g s u b s t i t u t i o n is called t h e most general unifier a n d is u n i q u e u p to v a r i a b l e r e n a m i n g . U n i f i c a t i o n was first i n t r o d u c e d b y R o b i n s o n [17, 18] as t h e c e n t r a l s t e p of t h e inference rule called resolution. T h i s single, p o w e r f u l rule c a n r e p l a c e all t h e a x i o m s a n d inference