Characteristic Functions and Generating Functions

2005 ◽  
pp. 155-172
Keyword(s):  
Generating Functions ◽  
Characteristic Functions

scholarly journals PRESBURGER ARITHMETIC, RATIONAL GENERATING FUNCTIONS, AND QUASI-POLYNOMIALS

2015 ◽  
Vol 80 (2) ◽  
pp. 433-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
KEVIN WOODS
Keyword(s):  
Generating Functions ◽  
Counting Function ◽  
Order Theory ◽  
Characteristic Functions ◽  
Presburger Arithmetic ◽  
First Order ◽  
First Order Theory ◽  
Rational Generating Function ◽  
Rational Generating Functions

AbstractPresburger arithmetic is the first-order theory of the natural numbers with addition (but no multiplication). We characterize sets that can be defined by a Presburger formula as exactly the sets whose characteristic functions can be represented by rational generating functions; a geometric characterization of such sets is also given. In addition, ifp= (p1, . . . ,pn) are a subset of the free variables in a Presburger formula, we can define a counting functiong(p) to be the number of solutions to the formula, for a givenp. We show that every counting function obtained in this way may be represented as, equivalently, either a piecewise quasi-polynomial or a rational generating function. Finally, we translate known computational complexity results into this setting and discuss open directions.

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