Translating between language and logic: what is easy and what is difficult

  • Authors:
  • Aarne Ranta

  • Affiliations:
  • Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology and University of Gothenburg

  • Venue:
  • CADE'11 Proceedings of the 23rd international conference on Automated deduction
  • Year:
  • 2011

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Abstract

Natural language interfaces make formal systems accessible in informal language. They have a potential to make systems like theorem provers more widely used by students, mathematicians, and engineers who are not experts in logic. This paper shows that simple but still useful interfaces are easy to build with available technology. They are moreover easy to adapt to different formalisms and natural languages. The language can be made reasonably nice and stylistically varied. However, a fully general translation between logic and natural language also poses difficult, even unsolvable problems. This paper investigates what can be realistically expected and what problems are hard.