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Formalising Fisher's Inequality: Formal Linear Algebraic Proof Techniques in Combinatorics

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Conference Object

Change log

Authors

Edmonds, C 
Paulson, LC 

Abstract

The formalisation of mathematics is continuing rapidly, however combinatorics continues to present challenges to formalisation efforts, such as its reliance on techniques from a wide range of other fields in mathematics. This paper presents formal linear algebraic techniques for proofs on incidence structures in Isabelle/HOL, and their application to the first formalisation of Fisher's inequality. In addition to formalising incidence matrices and simple techniques for reasoning on linear algebraic representations, the formalisation focuses on the linear algebra bound and rank arguments. These techniques can easily be adapted for future formalisations in combinatorics, as we demonstrate through further application to proofs of variations on Fisher's inequality.

Description

Keywords

Journal Title

Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics, LIPIcs

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1868-8969

Volume Title

237

Publisher

Sponsorship
European Research Council (742178)