Knowledge and Inference

Knowledge and Inference discusses an important problem for software systems: How do we treat knowledge and ideas on a computer and how do we use inference to solve problems on a computer? The book talks about the problems of knowledge and inference for the purpose of merging artificial intelligence and library science. The book begins by clarifying the concept of ""knowledge"" from many points of view, followed by a chapter on the current state of library science and the place of artificial intelligence in library science. Subsequent chapters cover central topics in the artificial intelligence: search and problem solving, methods of making proofs, and the use of knowledge in looking for a proof. There is also a discussion of how to use the knowledge system. The final chapter describes a popular expert system. It describes tools for building expert systems using an example based on Expert Systems—A Practical Introduction by P. Sell (Macmillian, 1985). This type of software is called an ""expert system shell."" This book was written as a textbook for undergraduate students covering only the basics but explaining as much detail as possible.

Preface Reader's Guide Chapter 1: What is Knowledge? 1.1 How Knowledge is Seen in Philosophy 1.2 Method in Natural Science 1.3 Knowledge in Artificial Intelligence 1.4 Factual Knowledge 1.5 Inference Knowledge Summary Key Words Exercises Chapter 2: Factual Knowledge and Its Organization 2.1 The Organization of Document Information 2.2 Organization of Factual Knowledge 2.3 Thesaurus 2.4 Storage Structure of Information 2.5 Information Retrieval 2.6 Mathematical Theory of Classification Summary Key Words Exercises Chapter 3: Inferential Knowledge and Problem-Solving (I) 3.1 State-Space Representation of a Problem 3.2 Search Tree 3.3 Programs for Game-Tree Search 3.4 Graph Search 3.5 Characteristics of Problem-Solving Using State-Representations 3.6 Discovery of an Algorithm Summary Key Words Exercises Chapter 4: Inferential Knowledge and Problem-Solving (II) 4.1 Use of Heuristic Knowledge 4.2 Finding a Solution by the Decomposition of a Problem 4.3 Blackboard Model 4.4 Knowledge as a Constraint 4.5 Mutual Model Summary Key Words Exercises Chapter 5: Inference Using Symbolic Logic 5.1 Expressions of Rules Using Symbolic Logic 5.2 Proof Using Forward and Backward Reasoning 5.3 Proof Using the Resolution Principle 5.4 Forms of Questions 5.5 Logical Representation of a Database 5.6 Inference in Changing Situations 5.7 Other Inference Methods Summary Key words Exercises Chapter 6: Knowledge Representation and Question-Answering 6.1 Semantic Networks 6.2 Frames and Scripts 6.3 Dialog Model Summary Key Words Exercises Chapter 7: Expert Systems 7.1 Features of Expert Systems 7.2 Production Systems 7.3 A Program for Forward Reasoning 7.4 A Program for