Lambda Functions for Z3Py - z3

Question

My goal is to find a construct within Z3Py which allows me to:
(1) Write propositions as a function of a variable. For eg theoretically, if I define P(x) = x < 3, then the code should allow me to access P(u) for some other variable u.
(2) And Z3 should be able to solve and find a model for such a construct.
I thought Z3's 'Lambda' function theoretically made sense. However with this construct neither can I do (1) or (2). As a concrete eg, suppose I have the following code:
u, x = Ints('u x')
P = Lambda( [x], x < 5 )
I = Lambda ([x], x < 3)
C1 = Not(Implies(P.body(), I.body() ))
s = Solver()
s.add(C1)
r = s.check()
print(r.__repr__())
s.add( Implies(P(u), u == 2) )
Run this code to get the output:
unknown
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "testfile.py", line 20, in <module>
s.add( Implies(P(u), u == 2) )
TypeError: 'QuantifierRef' object is not callable
There are two issues to fix here:
(1) Why does r._ repr_() have 'unknown' stored and not 'sat' i.e. Why isn't Z3 solving this system?
(2) In the final line, how can I get the predicate u < 5 from P i.e. in lambda calculus terminology, how do I do application of a function to a variable in Z3Py? Clearly P(u) does not work.

Answer 1

For this sort of modeling, you should simply use a regular python function:
from z3 import *
def P(x):
return x < 5
def I(x):
return x < 3
Then, to do the proof Q(x) => P(x), you'd use a quantifier:
dummy = Int('dummy')
C1 = ForAll([dummy], Implies(I(dummy), P(dummy)))
prove(C1)
This prints:
proved
Regarding your specific questions:
(1) Adding Implies(P.body(), Q.body()) means something completely different. If you run:
from z3 import *
x = Int('x')
P = Lambda( [x], x < 5 )
I = Lambda( [x], x < 3 )
s = Solver()
s.add(Implies(P.body(), I.body()))
print(s.sexpr())
You'll see it prints:
(assert (=> (< (:var 0) 5) (< (:var 0) 3)))
where :var is an internal free-variable generating function. This isn't an object you should be passing back and forth to z3; in fact, I think you're becoming a victim of the loosely typed nature of z3; this isn't a construct that really make much sense at all. Long story short, you should never look at P.body() or I.body() in your own code. I'd ignore the unknown result in this context; the input is more or less meaningless, and z3 spits out a nonsensical answer. A better system should've checked and complained about this; but this is not a strong point for z3's Python API.
(2) If you use a regular function, this isn't really a problem at all; because you're just doing regular application at the Python level. You can apply a lambda-bound value by directly calling it as well, though you need the notation P[u]. (Lambda's are similar to arrays in z3.) So, something like:
from z3 import *
u, x = Ints('u x')
P = Lambda([x], x < 5)
I = Lambda([x], x < 3)
s = Solver()
s.add(Implies(P[u], u == 2))
print(s.check())
print(s.model())
will print:
sat
[u = 2]
which is what you were looking for I think.
Multiple arguments
If you want to model a lambda with multiple arguments, the easiest way is to think of it as a nested construct. That is, you store a new lambda at each index. Here's an example:
from z3 import *
dummy1 = FreshInt()
dummy2 = FreshInt()
P = Lambda([dummy1], Lambda([dummy2], dummy1 < dummy2))
s = Solver()
x, y = Ints('x y')
s = Solver()
s.add(P[x][y])
print(s.check())
print(s.model())
This prints:
sat
[y = 1, x = 0]
Note that the above also demonstrates the use of the FreshInt function, which avoids name-clashes by providing a unique name each time it is called.