Author

Han Yin Zhang

Date of Award

9-23-2010

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Computer Science (MCS)

Department

Computing and Software

Supervisor

William M. Farmer

Language

English

Abstract

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Simplification is an important and heavily used facility in many mathematical software

systems including both computer algebra systems and computer theorem proving systems. The objective of the MathScheme project is to develop a new generation of mechanized mathematic systems that combines the advantages of both computer algebra and computer theorem proving. Serving as the underlying logic of MathScheme, Chiron is used to formalize mathematics in our project. Therefore, we want to build a simplifier that simplifies Chiron expressions for the MathScheme project. This thesis presents the design and implementation of a simplification infrastructure that allows users to build their own simplifiers. This framework can be viewed as a customizable simplifier. It provides a set of simplification strategies and mechanisms for managing contexts. The rules module of this framework allows future developers to define new simplification rules and add them into the rule library. Using different strategies and optional arguments, developers can build simplifiers that work in various ways. The ultimate goal of this framework is to provide a powerful tool with good flexibility so that other people can use it as a handy building block or an experimental environment in the future development and application of MathScheme.

McMaster University Library