Vanquishing the XCB question: The methodological discovery of the last shortest single axiom for the equivalential calculus (Q1869616)

This paper answers the following question: Is the formula \(\text{XCB}= e(x,e(e(e(xy)\), \(e(z,y)),z))\) a single axiom for the classical equivalential calculus when the rules of inference consist of detachment and substitution? Heretofore, thirteen shortest single axioms for classical equivalence of length eleven have been discovered, and XCB was the only remaining formula whose status was undetermined. This result ends the search for shortest single axioms for the equivalential calculus.