Fields and algebraic specification of abstract data types



Abstract:

An algebraic specification of an abstract data type is a term algebra T together
with a set of equations among terms (possibly with variables).
Mathematically this is the quotient structure of T modulo the congruence
generated by the equations.  For the equation system CR of commutative rings
the abstract type obtained is the ring Z of integers. We will discuss some
interesting questions concerning the search for the proper algebraic
specification of the field Q of rational numbers.