Proof Theory and Automated Deduction is written for final-year undergraduate and first-year post-graduate students. It should also serve as a valuable reference for researchers in logic and computer science. It covers basic notions in logic, with a particular stress on proof theory, as opposed to, for example, model theory or set theory; and shows how they are applied in computer science, and especially the particular field of automated deduction, i.e. the automated search for proofs of mathematical propositions.
We have chosen to give an in-depth analysis of the basic notions, instead of giving a mere sufficient analysis of basic and less basic notions. We often derive the same theorem by different methods, showing how different mathematical tools can be used to get at the very nature of the objects at hand, and how these tools relate to each other. Instead of presenting a linear collection of results, we have tried to show that all results and methods are tightly interwoven. We believe that understanding how to travel along this web of relations between concepts is more important than just learning the basic theorems and techniques by rote.
Audience: The book is a valuable reference for researchers in logic and computer science.
We have chosen to give an in-depth analysis of the basic notions, instead of giving a mere sufficient analysis of basic and less basic notions. We often derive the same theorem by different methods, showing how different mathematical tools can be used to get at the very nature of the objects at hand, and how these tools relate to each other. Instead of presenting a linear collection of results, we have tried to show that all results and methods are tightly interwoven. We believe that understanding how to travel along this web of relations between concepts is more important than just learning the basic theorems and techniques by rote.
Audience: The book is a valuable reference for researchers in logic and computer science.
