Constructive Coq Repository at Nijmegen
Hello, these pages are a bit outdated; you can find the latest source
code on
http://github.com/c-corn/corn.
Latest Stable Revision: here (works with Coq 8.4)
Feel free to ask question through email or on the #coq IRC
channel on freenode.
Also see the math-classes
project.
The Constructive Coq Repository at Nijmegen, C-CoRN, aims at building
a computer based library of constructive mathematics, formalized in
the theorem prover Coq.
Background There is a lot of mathematical knowledge. This
knowledge is mainly stored in books and in the heads of mathematicians
and other scientists. Putting this knowledge in the right form on a
computer, the mathematics should be more readily available to be used
by others (either humans or other computer applications). C-CoRN aims
at being a starting point and a test-bed for this: we put mathematics
on a computer in an active (formalized) way to see how one can
interact with it (consult, use, extend) and how to manage it
(document, update, keep consistent). The reason for working
constructively is partly historical,
partly practical (because we wanted to use Coq, which is a
constructive theorem prover), but mainly because constructive
mathematics has the additional bonus of providing (actual, executable)
algorithms for the functions that we prove to exist. C-CoRN grew out
of the FTA project, formalizing the Fundamental Theorem of
Algebra. (See the history page
for an overview and links.) The repository is developed and maintained
by the Foundations Group of
the NIII (Computer Science Department) of the University of Nijmegen,
but everybody is cordially invited to participate in its further
development.
Why Computer formalized mathematics has a high potential: a
good computer-representation of mathematics will enable the following.
- Browsing and searching libraries of
mathematics in an easy way, (so it should both be readable, like a
mathematics book and searchable like a database),
- Using the stored mathematics, e.g. by computing
with it or proving with it (so it should be possible to actively use
the mathematics in a computer algebra system or a theorem prover),
- Extending the corpus of mathematics. For example by
extending the formalized theory or by adding an illuminating example.
Extending should be as easy as writing it up in, say, LaTeX.
An important condition for opening up these potential advantages of
formalized mathematics is having an extensive formalized library of
(basic) results. C-CoRN aims at being such a library. In the context
of our work, this library serves several purposes.
- A library for (basic) constructive results, say in algebra and
analysis should be usable by others. Often, a formalization is only
used by the person that created it (or is not used further at
all!). We want C-CoRN explicitly to be used and extended by people
from our group, but also by interested outsiders. This requires a
certain way of working when doing a formalization, but it also
requires a certain managerial structure (CVS etc.). Join our
our discussion Mailing List.
- A library should be presented, both to its readers and to its
users. The `readers' may just be interested in the mathematical line
of thought, on a relatively high level, whereas the `users' will want
to know the formalization details on a much lower level. So there is
not just one good presentation, but presentation is vital for C-CoRN,
given the huge amount of data. The Helm project provides interesting
tools for presenting formalized mathematics on the web. To be able to
present a theory/proof development, the files have to be
documented. Therefore also documenting the repository is a
focal point.
- Extending the library can be done with the existing tools for Coq
(Proof General, PCoq). To attract mathematical users, a more
mathematical input language (corresponding to a `mathematical
vernacular') would be desirable. The repository can act as a test-bed
for new interfaces.
- Building up a real library of real mathematics faces us with the
current limitations of theorem provers, notably Coq. This concerns
not only tactics for enhancing the proving process, but also more fundamental
issues like the use of records, modules and coercions.
- Manage a big library of mathematics. At present, only Mizar has a really big library of
formalized mathematics. Mizar is not distributed, and so isn't
C-CoRN. Having a distributed library may be useful in the future.
What We formalize constructive mathematics in Coq. See the library for an overview. Currently we have: a
Constructive Algebraic Hierarchy (up to the reals), a theory of Metric Spaces and Compact Subsets of complete metric spaces, an Effective Model of the Real Numbers, a proof of the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra and the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, and the ability to generate plots of uniformly continuous functions.
Who See the people page to see who
has contributed to C-CoRN.