On the complexity of the correctness problem for non-zeroness test instruction sequences

This paper concerns the question to what extent it can be efficiently determined whether an arbitrary program correctly solves a given problem. This question is investigated with programs of a very simple form, namely instruction sequences, and a very simple problem, namely the non-zeroness test on natural numbers. The instruction sequences concerned are of a kind by which, for each $n > 0$, each function from ${0,1}^n$ to ${0,1}$ can be computed. The established results include the time complexities of the problem of determining whether an arbitrary instruction sequence correctly implements the restriction to ${0,1}^n$ of the function from ${0,1}^*$ to ${0,1}$ that models the non-zeroness test function, for $n > 0$, under several restrictions on the arbitrary instruction sequence.