Heuristic Search vs. Exhaustive Search

A theorem proving system embodying a systematic search procedure is de sen bed. Al though the search spaces are usually infinite, and not even locally finite, the asymmetric way in which thev are generated results in a speed that is es 11ma- ted to be one to two orders of magnitude faster than the theorem provers of Quinlan and Hunt, and Chang and the problem-solver of Kikes, to which this systern has been compared extenslvely.