First-Order Logic Representation
Many of the architectures analyzed build upon a substrate of First Order
Predicate Calculus.
This is a very descriptive declarative
representation with a well founded method of deriving new knowledge from
a database.
Its flexibility makes it a good choice when more than one
module may add to or utilize a common database
(c.f. Prodigy).
Unfortunately, this flexibility has limitations.
To maintain consistency, learning must be
monotonic.
This limits its effectiveness when there are
incomplete domain theories.
First-order predicate logic is composed of statements that are assumed to be
true. The statements are composed of:
- atoms (symbols),
- predicates (a function with one or more atomic arguments),
- two substatements joined by a conjunction, disjunction, or implication,
- a negated substatement, and
- a statement with an existential or universal quantifier (in this case,
atoms in the statements can be replaced by variables in the quantifier).
This representation allows facts and small amounts of knowledge to be
flexibly entered, but efficiency and sensitivity to errors are its
weaknesses in large knowledge bases. See the textbook by
Rich and Knight for more
information.
Architectures having this agent property include:
The following architectures explicitly utilize continuous variables:
Go to the List of Common Agent Properties.
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