A theory of using history for equational systems with applications

Abstract

A general theory of using a congruence closure based simplifier (CCNS) proposed by P. Chew (1980) for computing normal forms is developed, and several applications are presented. An independent set of postulates is given, and it is proved that CCNS can be used for any system that satisfies them. It is then shown that CCNS can be used for consistent convergent systems and for various kinds of priority rewrite systems. A simple translation scheme for converting priority systems into effectively nonoverlapping convergent systems is presented.<>