well_fnd Theory

Defines predicate saying that a binary relation over some type is well-founded. Well-foundedness is phrased in terms of a `course of values' induction principle, since this is more useful constructively than alternative formulations (e.g. saying that there are no infinite descending chains, or saying that every non-empty subset has a minimal element). NB: constructively, these alternative formulations are not equivalent.

Lemmas and tactics are introduced for induction on the rank of an expression (`inverse image induction'). One deficiency of Nuprl's type theory is that in some situations (notably when proving well-formedness goals) lemmas are unusable, and instead one must resort to using tactics that reproduce equivalent sequences of primitive rules. The theorem `inv_image_ind_tp' provides a template for such a tactic that mirrors the `inv_image_ind_a' lemma.


Summary of Definitions


Typed Definitions

wellfounded *1

Main Theorems

inv_image_ind_a *13
inv_image_ind_tp *92
inv_image_ind *1
wellfounded_functionality_wrt_iff *14
wellfounded_functionality_wrt_implies *8

Listing


Last modified February 24th, 1995

Paul Jackson / jackson@cs.cornell.edu