. The satisfiability (SAT) problem is a core problem in mathematical logic and computing theory. In practice, SAT is fundamental in solving many problems in automated reasoning, computer-aided design, computeraided manufacturing, machine vision, database, robotics, integrated circuit design, computer architecture design, and computer network design. Traditional methods treat SAT as a discrete, constrained decision problem. In recent years, many optimization methods, parallel algorithms, and practical techniques have been developed for solving SAT. In this survey, we present a general framework (an algorithm space) that integrates existing SAT algorithms into a unified perspective. We describe sequential and parallel SAT algorithms including variable splitting, resolution, local search, global optimization, mathematical programming, and practical SAT algorithms. We give performance evaluation of some existing SAT algorithms. Finally, we provide a set of practical applications of the sat...

Satisfiability is a class of NP-complete problems that model a wide range of real-world applications. These problems are difficult to solve because they have many local minima in their search space, often trapping greedy search methods that utilize some form of descent. In this paper, we propose a new discrete Lagrange-multiplier-based global-search method for solving satisfiability problems. We derive new approaches for applying Lagrangian methods in discrete space, show that equilibrium is reached when a feasible assignment to the original problem is found, and present heuristic algorithms to look for equilibrium points. Instead of restarting from a new starting point when a search reaches a local trap, the Lagrange multipliers in our method provide a force to lead the search out of a local minimum and move it in the direction provided by the Lagrange multipliers. One of the major advantages of our method is that it has very few algorithmic parameters to be tuned by users, and the se...

The satisfiability (SAT) problem is a fundamental problem in mathematical logic, inference, automated reasoning, VLSI engineering, and computing theory. In this paper, following CNF and DNF local search methods, we introduce the Universal SAT problem model, UniSAT, that transforms the discrete SAT problem on Boolean space f0; 1g m into an unconstrained global optimization problem on real space E m . A direct correspondence between the solution of the SAT problem and the global minimum point of the UniSAT objective function is established. Many existing global optimization algorithms can be used to solve the UniSAT problems. Combined with backtracking /resolution procedures, a global optimization algorithm is able to verify satisfiability as well as unsatisfiability. This approach achieves significant performance improvements for certain classes of conjunctive normal form (CNF ) formulas. It offers a complementary approach to the existing SAT algorithms.

. In this paper we present a method called NOVEL (Nonlinear Optimization via External Lead) for solving continuous and discrete global optimization problems. NOVEL addresses the balance between global search and local search, using a trace to aid in identifying promising regions before committing to local searches. We discuss NOVEL for solving continuous constrained optimization problems and show how it can be extended to solve constrained satisfaction and discrete satisfiability problems. We first transform the problem using Lagrange multipliers into an unconstrained version. Since a stable solution in a Lagrangian formulation only guarantees a local optimum satisfying the constraints, we propose a global search phase in which an aperiodic and bounded trace function is added to the search to first identify promising regions for local search. The trace generates an information-bearing trajectory from which good starting points are identified for further local searches. Taking only a sm...

... these new methods, we develop a prototype, called Novel (Nonlinear Optimization Via External Lead), that solves nonlinear constrained and unconstrained problems in a unified framework. We show experimental results in applying Novel to solve nonlinear optimization problems, including (a) the learning of feedforward neural networks, (b) the design of quadrature-mirror-filter digital filter banks, (c) the satisfiability problem, (d) the maximum satisfiability problem, and (e) the design of multiplierless quadrature-mirror-filter digital filter banks. Our method achieves better solutions than existing methods, or achieves solutions of the same quality but at a lower cost.

In this thesis, we present a new theory of discrete constrained optimization using Lagrange multipliers and an associated first-order search procedure (DLM) to solve general constrained optimization problems in discrete, continuous and mixed-integer space. The constrained problems are general in the sense that they do not assume the differentiability or convexity of functions. Our proposed theory and methods are targeted at discrete problems and can be extended to continuous and mixed-integer problems by coding continuous variables using a floating-point representation (discretization). We have characterized the errors incurred due to such discretization and have proved that there exists upper bounds on the errors. Hence, continuous and mixed-integer constrained problems, as well as discrete ones, can be handled by DLM in a unified way with bounded errors.

: The satisfiability (SAT) problem is a basic problem in computing theory. Presently, an active area of research on SAT problem is to design efficient optimization algorithms for finding a solution for a satisfiable CNF formula. A new formulation, the Universal SAT problem model, which transforms the SAT problem on Boolean space into an optimization problem on real space has been developed [31, 35, 34, 32]. Many optimization techniques, such as the steepest descent method, Newton's method, and the coordinate descent method, can be used to solve the Universal SAT problem. In this paper, we prove that, when the initial solution is sufficiently close to the optimal solution, the steepest descent method has a linear convergence ratio fi ! 1, Newton's method has a convergence ratio of order two, and the convergence ratio of the steepest descent method is approximately (1 \Gamma fi=m) for the Universal SAT problem with m variables. An algorithm based on the coordinate descent method for the...

Parallel heuristic search algorithms are widely used in artificial intelligence. This paper describes novel parallel variants of two standard sequential search algorithms, the standard Davis Putnam algorithm (DP); and the same algorithm extended with conflict-directed backjumping (CBJ). Encouraging preliminary results for the GpH parallel dialect of the non-strict functional programming language Haskell suggest that modest real speedup can be achieved for the most interesting hard search cases.