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Reasoning by plausible inference

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 87))

Abstract

The PI (Plausible Inference) system has been implemented with the ability to reason in both directions, unlike previous AI systems for inexact reasoning. This is combined with truth-maintenance, dependency-directed backtracking, and time-varying contexts to permit modelling dynamic situations. Four rules of inference are employed in PI, Modus Ponens, Modus Tollens, Confirmation, and Denial. Each of these causes credibility as well as truth value to be propagated in a semantic network of assertions. Applications are foreseen in ‘guessing’ the answers to problems in formal deduction so that search trees may be pruned, and in the flexible selection of strategies for planning, as well as diagnostic or trouble-shooting models involving less-than-certain assertions.

This paper represents the results of one phase of research carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract NAS7-100, sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

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Wolfgang Bibel Robert Kowalski

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© 1980 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Friedman, L. (1980). Reasoning by plausible inference. In: Bibel, W., Kowalski, R. (eds) 5th Conference on Automated Deduction Les Arcs, France, July 8–11, 1980. CADE 1980. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 87. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-10009-1_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-10009-1_11

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-10009-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-38140-2

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