Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Boosting complete techniques thanks to local search methods

  • Published:
Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this paper, an efficient heuristic allowing one to localize inconsistent kernels in propositional knowledge‐bases is described. Then, it is shown that local search techniques can boost the performance of logically complete methods for SAT. More precisely, local search techniques can be used to guide the branching strategy of logically complete techniques like Davis and Putnam's one, giving rise to significant performance improvements, in particular when addressing locally inconsistent problems. Moreover, this approach appears very competitive in the context of consistent SAT instances, too.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. P. Cheeseman, B. Kanefsky and W.M. Taylor, Where the really hard problems are, in: Proc. IJCAI-91(1991) pp. 163-169.

  2. V. Chvátal and E. Szemerédi, Many hard examples for resolution, Journal of the ACM 33(4) (1988) 759-768.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. S. Cook, The complexity of theorem-proving procedures, in: Proc. 3rd Ann. ACM Symp. on Theory of Computing(1971) pp. 151-158.

  4. S. Cook, A short proof of the pigeon hole principle using extended resolution, SIGACT News 8 (1976) 28-32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. J.M. Crawford, Solving satisfiability problems using a combination of systematic and local search, in: Working Notes of the DIMACS Workshop on Maximum Clique, Graph Coloring, and Satisfiability(1993).

  6. M. Davis and H. Putnam, A computing procedure for quantification theory, Journal of the ACM 7 (1960) 201-215.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  7. DIMACS, Second challenge organized by the Center for Discrete Mathematics and Computer Science of Rutgers University (1993). The benchmarks used in our tests can be obtained by anonymous ftp from Rutgers University DIMACS Center: ftp://dimacs.rutgers.edu/pub/challenge/ sat/benchmarks/cnf.

  8. O. Dubois, P. André, Y. Boufkhad and J. Carlier, SAT versus UNSAT, in: Working Notes of the DIMACS Workshop on Maximum Clique, Graph Coloring, and Satisfiability(1993).

  9. O. Dubois and J. Carlier, Probabilistic approach to the satisfiability problem, Theoretical Computer Science 81 (1991) 65-75.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  10. J. Franco and M. Paull, Probabilistic analysis of the Davis and Putnam procedure for solving the satisfiability problem, Discrete Applied Mathematics 5 (1983) 77-87.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  11. I.P. Gent and T. Walsh, Towards an understanding of hill-climbing procedures for SAT, in: Proc. AAAI-93(1993) pp. 28-33.

  12. I.P. Gent and T. Walsh, The SAT phase transition, in: Proc. ECAI-94(1994) pp. 105-109.

  13. K. Iwama and E. Miyano, Test-case generation with proved securities, in: Working Notes of the DIMACS Workshop on Maximum Clique, Graph Coloring, and Satisfiability(1993).

  14. B. Mazure, L. Saïs and É. Grégoire, Tabu search for SAT, in: Proc. AAAI-97(July 1997) pp. 281-285. A preliminary version appeared as: TWSAT: a new local search algorithm for SAT. Performance and analysis, in: CP95 Workshop on Studying and Solving Really Hard Problems, Cassis, France, September 1995.

  15. D. Mitchell, B. Selman and H. Levesque, Hard and easy distributions of SAT problems, in: Proc. AAAI-92(1992) pp. 459-465.

  16. A. Rauzy, On the complexity of the Davis and Putnam's procedure on some polynomial sub-classes of SAT, LaBRI Technical Report 806-94, Université de Bordeaux 1 (1994).

  17. B. Selman, H. Levesque and D. Mitchell, A new method for solving hard satisfiability problems, in: Proc. AAAI-92(1992) pp. 440-446.

  18. B. Selman, H.A. Kautz and B. Cohen, Local search strategies for satisfiability testing, in: Working Notes of the DIMACS Workshop on Maximum Clique, Graph Coloring, and Satisfiability(1993).

  19. G.S. Tseitin, On the complexity of derivations in propositional calculus, in: Structures in Constructive Mathematics, Part II, ed. A.O. Slisenko (1968) pp. 115-125.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CRIL, Université d'Artois, rue de l'Université, SP 16, F‐, 62307, Lens Cedex, France

    Bertrand Mazure, Lakhdar Saïs & Éric Grégoire

Authors
  1. Bertrand Mazure
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lakhdar Saïs
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Éric Grégoire
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Mazure, B., Saïs, L. & Grégoire, É. Boosting complete techniques thanks to local search methods. Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence 22, 319–331 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018999721141

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018999721141

Keywords

Search

Navigation