Craig Interpolation for Quantifier-Free Presburger Arithmetic (0811.3521v1)

Abstract: Craig interpolation has become a versatile algorithmic tool for improving software verification. Interpolants can, for instance, accelerate the convergence of fixpoint computations for infinite-state systems. They also help improve the refinement of iteratively computed lazy abstractions. Efficient interpolation procedures have been presented only for a few theories. In this paper, we introduce a complete interpolation method for the full range of quantifier-free Presburger arithmetic formulas. We propose a novel convex variable projection for integer inequalities and a technique to combine them with equalities. The derivation of the interpolant has complexity low-degree polynomial in the size of the refutation proof and is typically fast in practice.