2008/12/08 by Paolo Ferraris, Ferraris, Paolo · 1 citation
Computer Science · #Advanced Algebra and Logic #Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI) #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Logic, Reasoning, and Knowledge #Semantic Web and Ontologies #cs.AI
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0812.1462
arxiv created 2008/12/08 · openalex publication_date 2008/12/08 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Answer set programming (ASP) is a logic programming paradigm that can be used to solve complex combinatorial search problems. Aggregates are an ASP construct that plays an important role in many applications. Defining a satisfactory semantics of aggregates turned out to be a difficult problem, and in this paper we propose a new approach, based on an analogy between aggregates and propositional connectives. First, we extend the definition of an answer set/stable model to cover arbitrary propositional theories; then we define aggregates on top of them both as primitive constructs and as abbreviations for formulas. Our definition of an aggregate combines expressiveness and simplicity, and it inherits many theorems about programs with nested expressions, such as theorems about strong equivalence and splitting.