Necessary and sufficient conditions to linearize doubly recursive programs in logic databases

Abstract

Linearization of nonlinear recursive programs is an important issue in logic databases for both practical and theoretical reasons. If a nonlinear recursive program can be transformed into an equivalent linear recursive program, then it may be computed more efficiently than when the tranformation is not possible. We provide a set of necessary and sufficient conditions for a simple doubly recursive program to be equivalent to a simple linear recursive program. The necessary and sufficient conditions can be verified effectively.