Item

Abstract

In this paper we give a method for automated theorem proving in the universal theory of certain varieties of distributive lattices with well-behaved operators. For this purpose, we use extensions of Priestley's representation theorem for distributive lattices. We first establish a link between satisfiability of universal sentences with respect to varieties of distributive lattices with operators and satisfiability with respect to certain classes of relational structures. We then use these results for giving a method for translation to clause form of universal sentences in such varieties, and obtain decidability and complexity results for the universal theory of some such varieties. The advantage is that we avoid the explicit use of the full algebraic structure of such lattices, instead using sets endowed with a reflexive and transitive relation and with additional functions and relations. We first studied this type of relationships in the context of finitely-valued logics and then extended the ideas to more general non-classical logics. This paper shows that the idea is much more general. In particular, the method presented here subsumes both existing methods for translating modal logics to classical logic and methods for automated theorem proving in finitely-valued logics based on distributive lattices with operators.