# Rushing and Strolling among Answer Sets -- Navigation Made Easy

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2112.07596 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.07596/

## Key facts

- Cited by 9 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 11 of its 70 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 14 Dec 2021.

## Builds on (most cited first, 11 of 11)

- [ASP-Core-2 Input Language Format](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.04326/) (2019)
- [Clingo = ASP + Control: Preliminary Report](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1405.3694/) (2014)
- [The Model Counting Competition 2020](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.01323/) (2020)
- [Answer Set Solving with Bounded Treewidth Revisited](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1702.02890/) (2017)
- [Design and Results of the Second International Competition on Computational Models of Argumentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.00621/) (2019)
- [Computing LPMLN Using ASP and MLN Solvers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1707.06325/) (2017)
- [Debugging Non-Ground ASP Programs: Technique and Graphical Tools](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1808.00417/) (2018)
- [Exploiting Database Management Systems and Treewidth for Counting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2001.04191/) (2020)
- [Stepwise Debugging of Answer-Set Programs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1705.06564/) (2017)
- [Benchmarking Crimes: An Emerging Threat in Systems Security](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.02381/) (2018)
- [Anytime answer set optimization via unsatisfiable core shrinking](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1608.00731/) (2016)

## Built on by (most cited first, 9 of 9)

- [A Quantitative Symbolic Approach to Individual Human Reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.05030/) (2022)
- [IASCAR: Incremental Answer Set Counting by Anytime Refinement](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.07233/) (2023)
- [Unit Testing in ASP Revisited: Language and Test-Driven Development Environment](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.02153/) (2024)
- [Counting and Reasoning with Plans](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.00145/) (2025)
- [Epistemic Logic Programs: Non-Ground and Counting Complexity](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.04731/) (2025)
- [Complexity of Faceted Explanations in Propositional Abduction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.14962/) (2025)
- [Answer Set Counting and its Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.09231/) (2025)
- [Counting Answer Sets of Disjunctive Answer Set Programs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.11655/) (2025)
- [An XAI View on Explainable ASP: Methods, Systems, and Perspectives](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.14764/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Answer set programming (ASP) is a popular declarative programming paradigm with a wide range of applications in artificial intelligence. Oftentimes, when modeling an AI problem with ASP, and in particular when we are interested beyond simple search for optimal solutions, an actual solution, differences between solutions, or number of solutions of the ASP program matter. For example, when a user aims to identify a specific answer set according to her needs, or requires the total number of diverging solutions to comprehend probabilistic applications such as reasoning in medical domains. Then, there are only certain problem specific and handcrafted encoding techniques available to navigate the solution space of ASP programs, which is oftentimes not enough. In this paper, we propose a formal and general framework for interactive navigation towards desired subsets of answer sets analogous to faceted browsing. Our approach enables the user to explore the solution space by consciously zooming in or out of sub-spaces of solutions at a certain configurable pace. We illustrate that weighted faceted navigation is computationally hard. Finally, we provide an implementation of our approach that demonstrates the feasibility of our framework for incomprehensible solution spaces.