On the average case analysis of some satisfiability model problems

Abstract The average time required by backtracking is analyzed over four models of random conjunctive normal form formulas. Each model gives a result of exp { O(ν (s−α) (s−1) ) }, where ν is the number of variables from which literals may be formed, s is the number of literals per clause, and ν α (1 α s ) is the number of clauses in the predicate. This indicates that the analysis methods used are insensitive to small changes in the random model.