A formal analysis of the fault-detecting ability of testing methods

Several relationships between software testing criteria, each induced by a relation between the corresponding multisets of subdomains, are examined. The authors discuss whether for each relation R and each pair of criteria, C₁ and C₂ , R(C₁, C₂) guarantees that C₁ is better at detecting faults than C₂ according to various probabilistic measures of fault-detecting ability. It is shown that the fact that C ₁ subsumes C₂ does not guarantee that C₁ is better at detecting faults. Relations that strengthen the subsumption relation and that have more bearing on fault-detecting ability are introduced