The Davis-Putnam procedure is an efficient method for checking the satisfiability of propositional formulae by refutation. It works by first negating the formula and converting it to conjunctive normal form. Rules are then iterated to derive contradictory literals, showing the negated formula is unsatisfiable and the original formula is valid. The rules include deleting clauses if a literal appears alone, removing subsumed clauses, and splitting the clause set based on choosing a literal. Examples demonstrate applying the rules to derive contradictions.