Calculating with requirements

The author considers how many issues in requirements engineering can be explored and analyzed using automated formal methods. At present, the tools supporting these analyses are not ideal: considerable knowledge and experience are required to select the most appropriate tool for a given task, to formulate the problem in a suitable manner, and to coax the tool into divulging a useful result. Application of specialized but pragmatically effective theorem proving techniques, and of model checking and related methods, has made it possible to subject formal requirements specifications to several kinds of automated analysis.