English

A Trustful Monad for Axiomatic Reasoning with Probability and Nondeterminism

Logic in Computer Science 2023-12-12 v3

Abstract

The algebraic properties of the combination of probabilistic choice and nondeterministic choice have long been a research topic in program semantics. This paper explains a formalization in the Coq proof assistant of a monad equipped with both choices: the geometrically convex monad. This formalization has an immediate application: it provides a model for a monad that implements a non-trivial interface which allows for proofs by equational reasoning using probabilistic and nondeterministic effects. We explain the technical choices we made to go from the literature to a complete Coq formalization, from which we identify reusable theories about mathematical structures such as convex spaces and concrete categories, and that we integrate in a framework for monadic equational reasoning.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2003.09993,
  title  = {A Trustful Monad for Axiomatic Reasoning with Probability and Nondeterminism},
  author = {Reynald Affeldt and Jacques Garrigue and David Nowak and Takafumi Saikawa},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2003.09993},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

28 pages, submitted

R2 v1 2026-06-23T14:23:19.973Z