Acquiring Maps of Interrelated Conjectures on Sharp Bounds

Nicolas Beldiceanu, Jovial Cheukam-Ngouonou, Rémi Douence, Ramiz Gindullin, Claude-Guy Quimper

Abstract: To automate the discovery of conjectures on combinatorial objects, we introduce the concept of a map of sharp bounds on characteristics of combinatorial objects, that provides a set of interrelated sharp bounds for these combinatorial objects. We then describe a Bound Seeker, a CP-based system, that gradually acquires maps of conjectures. The system was tested for searching conjectures on bounds on characteristics of digraphs: it constructs sixteen maps involving 431 conjectures on sharp lower and upper-bounds on eight digraph characteristics.