Abstract: In the design of large scale digital integrated circuits, it is often desirable to formally verify whether an implementation design is equivalent to a reference design. The present invention utilizes a particular type of structural similarity between the reference and implementation designs, which we shall refer to as “structural dependence,” in order to broaden the class of circuits that are formally verifiable in an efficient manner. Structural dependence is the dependence of the higher-order result bits of a design upon the circuitry driving the lower-order result bits. Structural dependence is utilized in partitioning the two circuits, also referred to as &eegr; and &eegr;′, to be compared. Such partitioning creates subcircuits &eegr;i for circuit &eegr; and subcircuits &eegr;′i for circuit &eegr;′. Each subcircuit &eegr;i drives a primary output zi and each subcircuit &eegr;′i drives a primary output z′i.