Using quantifer elimination with Z3 Python - z3

I try to find the values for A,B,C,D satisfiying the formula g = And(ForAll([i, j, k], Implies(And(k <= 0, A * i + B * j + C * k + D <= 0), k + i - j <= 0)),Not(And(A==0,B==0,C==0))) using solve(g) . This has many possible solutions, one is A=1,B=-1,C=D=0 but Z3 can't seem to do this (solve(g) does not terminate).
Can Z3 do this kind of nonlinear (but simple) formula ? Perhaps I can specify some QE strategies or something for this ?

Z3 has a quantifier elimination tactic. We can enable it by creating a solver using:
s = Then('qe', 'smt').solver()
This command will create a solver that first applies quantifier elimination and then invokes a SMT solver. However, Z3 has very limited support for quantifier elimination of nonlinear formulas. Your examples is nonlinear because it contains: A * i + B * j + C * k + D <= 0.
So, the qe tactic will not be able to eliminate the quantifier.
It would be great if you could implement better QE support for nonlinear arithmetic.

Related

Power and logarithm in Z3

I'm trying to learn Z3 and the following example baffles me:
from z3 import *
a = Int("a")
b = Int("b")
print(solve(2**a <= b))
print(solve(a > 0, b > 0, 2**a <= b))
I would expect it returns "[a = 1, b = 2]" but it instead returns "failed to solve".
Why cannot it be solved?
Is it possible to compute with powers and logarithms in Z3 at all? How do I find, say, the length of binary string representation of a number (log base 2)?
Long story short, z3 (or SMT solvers in general) cannot deal with non-linear constraints like this. Exponentiation/Logs etc are difficult to deal with, and there are no decision procedures for them over the integers. Even over reals they are difficult to handle. That is, the solver will apply some heuristics, which may or may not work. But for these sorts of constraints, SMT solvers are just not the right tool.
For an earlier answer on non-linear arithmetic in z3, see this answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/13898524/936310
Here're some more details if you are interested. First, there is no power-operator for integers in SMTLib or z3. If you look at the generated program, you'll see that it's actually over real values:
from z3 import *
a = Int("a")
b = Int("b")
s = Solver()
s.add(2**a <= b)
print(s.sexpr())
print(s.check())
This prints:
(declare-fun b () Int)
(declare-fun a () Int)
(assert (<= (^ 2 a) (to_real b)))
unknown
Note the conversion to to_real. The ^ operator automatically creates a real. The way this would be solved is if the solver can come up with a solution over reals, and then checks to see if the result is an integer. Let's see what happens if we try with Reals:
from z3 import *
a = Real("a")
b = Real("b")
s = Solver()
s.add(2**a <= b)
print(s.check())
print(s.model())
This prints:
sat
[b = 1, a = 0]
Great! But you also wanted a > 0, b > 0; so let's add that:
from z3 import *
a = Real("a")
b = Real("b")
s = Solver()
s.add(2**a <= b)
s.add(a > 0)
s.add(b > 0)
print(s.check())
This prints:
unknown
So, the solver can't handle this case either. You can play around with tactics (qfnra-nlsat), but it's unlikely to handle problems of this sort in general. Again, refer to https://stackoverflow.com/a/13898524/936310 for details.

Take out common variables using Z3

I have a formlua in DNF form, say:
abcx + abcy + abz
Is there any way to take out the common variables, to get the follwing formula:
ab (cx + cy + z)
A followup question, can it be done recursively, like
ab ( c(x+y) + z)
Sure.. Here's one way:
from z3 import *
a, b, c, x, y, z = Ints('a b c x y z')
print simplify(a*b*c*x + a*b*c*y + a*b*z, hoist_mul=True)
This prints:
a*b*(c*(x + y) + z)
which is exactly what you're looking for.
And for your next question, how did I find about hoist_cmul=True argument? Simply run:
help_simplify()
at your Python prompt, and it'll list you all the options simplify takes.
Note that you should in general not count on what the simplifier will give you. It's mostly heuristic driven, and in the presence of other terms what you get may not match what you expected. (It'll of course still be an equivalent expression.) There's no notion of "simplest" when it comes to arithmetic expressions, and what you consider simple and what z3 considers simple may not necessarily match.

Is there way to give input as normal expression to Z3 Solver?

The Z3 input format is an extension of the one defined by SMT-LIB 2.0 standard. The input expressions need to write in prefix form. As for example rise4fun,
x + (y * 2) = 20 needs to be given input in the form of " (= (+ x (* 2 y)) 20)) ".
Z3 supports JAVA API. As for example, let us consider the below code which evaluates and checks satisfiability expressions: x+y = 500 and x + (y * 2) = 20.
final Context ctx = new Context();
final Solver solver = ctx.mkSimpleSolver();
IntExpr x = ctx.mkIntConst("x");
IntExpr y = ctx.mkIntConst("y");
IntExpr th = ctx.mkInt(500);
IntExpr th1 = ctx.mkInt(2);
IntExpr th2 = ctx.mkInt(20);
BoolExpr t1 = ctx.mkEq(ctx.mkAdd(x,y), th);
BoolExpr t2 = ctx.mkEq(ctx.mkAdd(x,ctx.mkMul(th1, y)), th2);
solver.add(t1);
solver.add(t2);
solver.check()
The problem is if an external user wants to give input to the solver, he cannot give it in the form of the general formula as " x+y = 500, x + (y * 2) = 20 ".
The input needs to be parsed and then should be written manually using JAVA API in prefix form (Note BoolExpr t2 in above code) to give the final expressions to Solver.
Is there any parser/library/API (Preferably JAVA or in any other language) which parses the general expressions with arithmetic operators(+, -, <, >, =), propositional logic connectors (And, OR), Quantifiers(ForAll, Exists) and then gives input to the Z3 Solvers ?
Please suggest and help.
This is precisely why people build high-level interfaces to SMT solvers. There are many choices here for z3:
Official Python interface to z3: https://ericpony.github.io/z3py-tutorial/guide-examples.htm This is supported by Microsoft directly, and is probably the easiest to use.
PySMT, which aims to cover as many SMT solvers as they can: https://github.com/pysmt/pysmt
Scala bindings: https://github.com/epfl-lara/ScalaZ3
Haskell SBV: http://hackage.haskell.org/package/sbv
Many others at various maturity levels for Racket, Go, Lisp.. You name it. You can find many of them on github.
The goal of these "wrappers" is to precisely save the end-user from all the details of intricate bindings, and provide something much easier and less-error prone to use. On the flip side, they require you to learn yet another library. In my experience, if the host language of your choice has such an implementation, it'd pay off nicely to use it. If not, you should build one!

How to perform quantifier elimination using Python API of Z3

How can I perform quantifier elimination using the Python API of Z3? Although I checked the tutorial and API, couldn't manage to do it.
I have a formula that has an existential quantifier and I want Z3 to give me a new formula, such that this quantifier is eliminated. I essentially want to do the same thing as this:
How to hide variable with Z3
but with the Python interface. Also my formula is in linear arithmetic.
Thanks!
Addition:
After doing the quantifier elimination I will "add" the quantifier-free formula with another one. So if I make use of the Tactic, is there a way to convert a subgoal (which is the output of the tactic) to an expression in linear arithmetic?
You may use the quantifier elimination tactic for this (see the Tactic.apply docstring):
from z3 import Ints, Tactic, Exists, And
x, t1, t2 = Ints('x t1 t2')
t = Tactic('qe')
print t(Exists(x, And(t1 < x, x < t2)))
Possible solution using Z3Py online:
x, t1, t2 = Reals('x t1 t2')
g = Goal()
g.add(Exists(x, And(t1 < x, x < t2)))
t = Tactic('qe')
print t(g)
Output:
[[¬(0 ≤ t1 + -1·t2)]]
Run this example online here
Possible solution using Redlog of reduce:

How to make quantifier elimination using Z3-Py?

I am trying to obtain a quantifier-free formula using the following code:
S, E, I, R = Reals('S E I R')
b, n, s, g, m = Reals('b n s g m')
SS = Then('qe', 'smt').solver()
SS.add(Exists([S,E,I,R], And(m+g*R-m*S-b*I*S == 0,
b*I*S-(m+s)*E==0, s*E-(n+m)*I==0, n*I-(m+g)*R==0,
S > 0, I > 0, E > 0, R >0)))
SS.add(b > 0, n > 0, s >0 , g >0, m>0)
print SS
print SS.check()
but I am obtaining the output:
unknown
Please can you tell me what happens with my code? Many thanks.
Quantifier elimination works just for additive arithmetic. It does not eliminate quantifiers from formulas where variables are multiplied with other variables. This is why quantifier elimination does not produce a reduced formula for your problem.
Notice, however, that a formula Exists x . phi[x] is equi-satisfiable to a formula of the form
phi[x], so it should not be required to put an existential quantifier on your formula.
The nlsat strategy handles quantifier-free formulas over the reals with multiplication.

Resources