-When formalizing a proof in an interactive theorem prover like [Coq](https://coq.inria.fr/), one reoccuring issue is the handling of algebraic hierarchies.
+When formalizing a proof in an interactive theorem prover like [Coq](https://coq.inria.fr/), one reoccurring issue is the handling of algebraic hierarchies.
Such hierarchies are everywhere: some operations are associative, while others commute; some types have an equivalence relation, while others also have a (pre-)order or maybe even a well-ordering; and so on.
So the question arises: What is the best way to actually encode these hierarchies in Coq?
Such hierarchies are everywhere: some operations are associative, while others commute; some types have an equivalence relation, while others also have a (pre-)order or maybe even a well-ordering; and so on.
So the question arises: What is the best way to actually encode these hierarchies in Coq?
-Coq offers two mechanism that are suited to solve this task: typeclasses and canonical structures.
+Coq offers two mechanisms that are suited to solve this task: typeclasses and canonical structures.
Both can be instrumented in different ways to obtain a (more or less) convenient-to-use algebraic hierarchy.
A common approach using typeclasses is the ["unbundled" approach by Bas Spitters and Eelis van der Weegen](http://www.eelis.net/research/math-classes/mscs.pdf).
However as we learned the hard way in the Coq formalization of the [original Iris paper](https://iris-project.org/pdfs/2015-popl-iris1-final.pdf), this approach quickly leads to terms that seem to be exponential in size.
Both can be instrumented in different ways to obtain a (more or less) convenient-to-use algebraic hierarchy.
A common approach using typeclasses is the ["unbundled" approach by Bas Spitters and Eelis van der Weegen](http://www.eelis.net/research/math-classes/mscs.pdf).
However as we learned the hard way in the Coq formalization of the [original Iris paper](https://iris-project.org/pdfs/2015-popl-iris1-final.pdf), this approach quickly leads to terms that seem to be exponential in size.