Title
Verifying Properties of Bit-vector Multiplication Using Cutting Planes Reasoning
Abstract
Systems mixing Boolean logic and arithmetic have been a long-standing challenge for verification tools such as SAT-based bit-vector solvers. Though SAT solvers can be highly efficient for Boolean reasoning, they scale poorly once multiplication is involved. Algebraic methods using Gröbner basis reduction have recently been used to efficiently verify multiplier circuits in isolation, but generally do not perform well on problems involving bit-level reasoning. We propose that pseudo-Boolean solvers equipped with cutting planes reasoning have the potential to combine the complementary strengths of the existing SAT and algebraic approaches while avoiding their weaknesses. Theoretically, we show that there are optimal-length cutting planes proofs for a large class of bit-level properties of some well known multiplier circuits. This scaling is significantly better than the smallest proofs known for SAT and, in some instances, for algebraic methods. We also show that cutting planes reasoning can extract bit-level consequences of word-level equations in exponentially fewer steps than methods based on Gröbner bases. Experimentally, we demonstrate that pseudo-Boolean solvers can verify the word-level equivalence of adder-based multiplier architectures, as well as commutativity of bit-vector multiplication, in times comparable to the best algebraic methods. We then go further than previous approaches and also verify these properties at the bit-level. Finally, we find examples of simple nonlinear bit-vector inequalities that are intractable for current bit-vector and SAT solvers but easy for pseudo-Boolean solvers.
Year
DOI
Venue
2020
10.34727/2020/isbn.978-3-85448-042-6_27
2020 Formal Methods in Computer Aided Design (FMCAD)
Keywords
DocType
ISSN
Multiplier circuits,bit-vector arithmetic,verification,pseudo-Boolean solving,cutting planes,SAT solving,Gröbner bases
Conference
2641-8177
ISBN
Citations 
PageRank 
978-1-7281-5633-0
0
0.34
References 
Authors
25
5
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Vincent Liew100.34
Paul Beame22234176.07
Jo Devriendt3105.76
Jan Elffers401.01
Jakob Nordström517721.76