Some integer formula-encodings and related algorithms

Abstract

We investigate the special class of formulas made up of arbitrary but finite com- binations of addition, multiplication, and exponentiation gates. The inputs to these formulas are restricted to the integral unit 1. In connection with such formulas, we describe two essen- tially distinct families of canonical formula-encodings for integers, respectively deduced from the decimal encoding and the fundamental theorem of arithmetic. Our main contribution is the de- tailed description of two algorithms which efficiently determine the canonical formula-encodings associated with relatively large sets of consecutive integers.