Efficient Algorithms for Description Problems over Finite Totally Ordered Domains

Given a finite set of vectors over a finite totally ordered domain, we study the problem of computing a constraint in conjunctive normal form such that the set of solutions for the produced constraint is identical to the original set. We develop an efficient polynomial-time algorithm for the general case, followed by specific polynomial-time algorithms producing Horn, dual Horn, and bijunctive formulas for sets of vectors closed under the operations of conjunction, disjunction, and median, respectively. Our results generalize the work of Dechter and Pearl on relational data, as well as the papers by Hébrard and Zanuttini. They complement the results of Hähnle et al. on multivalued logics and Jeavons et al. on the algebraic approach to constraints.