The main current focus of the Mathematical Reasoning Group is on using proof planning to guide proof search. A proof plan is a global outline of a proof constructed from common patterns of reasoning. This has been applied principally to inductive proofs. The group was founded in 1974, but has its roots in work on automated deduction at Edinburgh starting in the mid-1960s. The University has a vision of Informatics, as the study of the structure, behaviour and design of computational systems, both artificial and natural.
Informatics has computational, cognitive and social aspects.
Its central concerns are the representation, processing, and communication of information, whether by organisms or artifacts. Informatics encompasses the existing academic disciplines of Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science. It also includes or informs parts of other disciplines, for example, Electronics, Biology, Linguistics and Psychology. Understanding of informational phenomena, such as computation, cognition, and communication, enables technological advances. Technological progress, in turn, prompts scientific enquiry.