EXMODULE-II: KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATION ISSUES

➢ REPRESENTATION AND MAPPINGS

To solve the complex problems come across in artificial intelligence, it needs both

• Large amount of knowledge

• Some mechanisms for manipulating that knowledge to create solutions to new problems.

A variety of ways of representing knowledge (facts) have been exploited in AI programs. We must
consider the point that pertains to all types of representation namely dealing with two different
kinds of entities:

✓ Facts: Truths in some relevant world and these are the things we want to represent.
✓ Representations of facts in some chosen formalism and these are the things will be able to
manipulate.
✓ Structuring these entities is done at two levels:

– The knowledge level, at which facts (behaviors and current goals) are described.
– The symbol level, at which representations of objects at the knowledge level are defined in
terms of symbols that can be manipulated by programs.

Figure 1: Mappings between Facts and Representations

✓ Mappings between facts and Representations are shown in figure above. Here, focus is on
facts, on representations, and on the two-way mappings that must exist between them and these
links are called representation mappings.

✓ The forward representation mapping maps from facts to representations.

✓ The backward representation mapping goes from representations to facts. Here, also have
mapping functions from English sentences to the representation and back to sentences. Figure
above shows how these three kinds of objects relate to each other.
✓ Figure below shows an expanded view of the starred part of the above Figure. The dotted line
across the top represents the abstract reasoning process that a program is intended to model.
 The solid line across the bottom represents the concrete reasoning process that a particular
program performs. This program successfully models the abstract process to the extent that, when
the backward representation mapping is applied to the program’s output, the appropriate final facts
are actually generated.

✓ Simple example using mathematical logic(Predicate logic) as the representational

formalism, Consider the English sentence:
o Spot is a dog.
The fact represented by English sentence can also be represented in logic as: dog (Spot)
o Suppose that we also have a logical representation of the fact that all dogs have tails:
✯x : dog(x) → hastail(x)
o Then, using the well-defined mechanisms of logic, we may generate the new representation
object: hastail (Spot)
o Using an appropriate backward mapping function, we could then generate the English
sentence: Spot has a tail
➢ APPROACHES TO KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATION

A good Knowledge Representation enables fast and accurate access to Knowledge and understanding
of the concept/content. A good system for the representation of knowledge in a particular domain
should possess the following four properties:

✓ Representational Adequacy: The ability to represent all of the kinds of knowledge that are
needed in that domain.
✓ Inferential Adequacy: The ability to manipulate the representational structures in such a
way as to derive new structures corresponding to new knowledge inferred from old.
✓ Inferential Efficiency: The ability to incorporate additional information into the knowledge
structure that can be used to focus the attention of the inference mechanisms in the most
promising directions.
✓ Acquisitional Efficiency: Ability to acquire new knowledge using automatic methods /
programs whatever possible rather than reliance on human intervention.
 Here it is noted that, to date, no signal system can optimizes all of the above properties.

❖ Knowledge Representation Schemes / Approaches

There are four types of knowledge representation schemes/approaches: Relational, Inheritable,

Inferential and Declarative / procedural.

• Simple Relational Knowledge

The simplest way to represent declarative facts is as a set of relations of the same sort used in
database systems. Figure below shows an example of such a relational system.

✓ Made up of objects with attributes and their corresponding values.

✓ Provides a framework to compare two objects based on equivalent attributes.
✓ It associates elements of one domain with another domain.
✓ Result of this knowledge type is a mapping of elements among different domains is
possible.
✓ Provides little opportunity for inference. But allows simple queries to be answered.

• Inheritable Knowledge

✓ It prescribes a structure in which new objects can be created which may inherit all or a subset of
attributes from existing objects.

✓ Here, Knowledge elements inherit attributes from their parents.

✓ Knowledge is embodied in the design hierarchies found in the functional, physical and process
domains.

✓ Within the hierarchy, elements inherit attributes from their parents, but in many cases not all
attributes of the parent elements be prescribed to the child elements.

✓ Inheritance is a powerful form of inference, but not adequate. The basic Knowledge
representation (KR) needs to be augmented with inference mechanism.

✓ Semantic Networks / A collection of frames / Slot–and-filler structures show property inheritance

and way for insertion of additional Knowledge.

✓ The objects or elements of specific classes inherit attributes and values from more general classes.
The classes are organized in a generalized hierarchy.

✓ To support property inheritance, objects must be organized into classes and classes must be
arranged in a generalization hierarchy. Figure 3 shows some additional baseball knowledge
inserted into a structure that is so arranged.

✓ Lines represent attributes.

✓ Boxed nodes represent objects and values of attributes of objects. These values can also be viewed
as objects with attributes and values, and so on.

✓ The arrows on the lines point from an object to its value along the corresponding attribute line.
 The structure shown in the Figure 3 is a slot-and-filler structure. It may also be called a semantic
network or a collection of frames.

Figure 3: Inheritable Knowledge

Algorithm: Property Inheritance

To retrieve a value V for attribute A of an instance object O:

1. Find O in the knowledge base.

2. If there is a value, which is there for the attribute A, report that value.
3. Otherwise, see if there is a value for the attribute instance. If not, then fail.
4. Otherwise, move to the node corresponding to that value and look for a value for the attribute
A. If one is found, report it.
5. Otherwise, do until there is no value for the isa attribute or until an answer is found:
a) Get the value of the isa attribute and move to that node.
b) See if there is a value for the attribute A. If there is, report it.

We can apply this procedure to our example knowledge base to derive answers to the following
queries:

✓ team (Pee-Wee-Reese)=Brooklyn-Dodgers.
This attribute had a value stored explicitly in the knowledge base.
✓ Batting-average (Three-Finger Brown) = 0.106
Since there is no value for batting average stored explicitly for Three Finger Brown, we
follow the instance attribute to Pitcher and extract the value stored there.

✓ height (Pee-Wee-Reese)=6-1
This represents another default inference. Notice here that because we get to it first, the more
specific fact about the height of baseball players .

✓ bats (Three-Finger-Brown)=Right
To get a Value for the attribute bats required going up the isa hierarchy to the class Baseball-
Player. But what we have found there was not a value but a rule for computing a value.
This rule required another value (that for handed) as input. So the entire process must be
begun again recursively to find a value for handed.

• Inferential Knowledge

✓ Inferential Knowledge is a powerful form of inference. Sometimes all the power of traditional
logic is necessary to describe the inferences that are needed.
✓ Knowledge is inferred from objects through relations among objects.
✓ Example: a word alone is a simple syntax, but with the help of other words in phrase, the
reader may infer more from a word. This inference within linguistic is called semantics.
✓ Uses inference mechanism to generate new knowledge from the given knowledge.
✓ Many inference rules / procedures Resolution principle, are used to draw inferences in
predicate logic.

Example: 1. Tommy is a dog

dog (Tommy)
2. All dogs are animals
∀𝗑 dog (𝗑) → animal (𝗑)
3. All animals either live on land or in water
∀𝗑 animal (𝗑) → live (𝗑, land) v live (𝗑, water)

From the above statements, we can infer that

“Tommy lives either on land or in water”

• Declarative / Procedural Knowledge

✓ Any declarative sentence/statement specifies knowledge.

✓ Example: Tendulkar, Laws, it is raining, and there is class.
✓ Example of baseball knowledge has concentrated on relatively static, declarative facts. But
another, equally useful, kind of knowledge is operational or procedural knowledge.
✓ In procedural Knowledge, Knowledge may be a mapping process between domains that
specify “what to do when” and “how to make it”.
 ✓ The procedural knowledge may have inferential efficiency, but no inferential adequacy and
acquisitional efficiency.
✓ These are represented as small programs that know how to do specific things and how to proceed.
✓ The most commonly used technique for representing procedural knowledge in AI programs is
the use of production rules. Figure below shows an example of a production rule that
represents a piece of operational knowledge typically possessed by a baseball player.
✓ Example: Procedural Knowledge as Rules
If: Internal marks is minimum of 12 out of 20 and external marks is 35% of 80, i.e., 28, leads
to 40% of 100 marks
Then: Result of the subject is pass – E grade

➢ ISSUES IN KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATION

The goal of Knowledge Representation is to facilitate inferencing / to draw conclusions from the
knowledge. We need to know several issues in knowledge representation before discussion of
specific mechanisms that have been used to represent various kinds of real-world knowledge:

• Important Attributes
✓ The attributes of objects that are basic and common occur in almost every problem domain?
If such attributes exist, what are they?
– There are two attributes: Instance and IS-A
– Example: IS-A and Instance attributes are important because they support inheritance.
• Relationships among Attributes
✓ Are there important relationships that exist among object attributes?
✓ There are four such mentioned here:
– Inverses
– Existence in an IS-A hierarchy
– Techniques for reasoning about values
– Single-valued attributes
Inverses
Refer Figure of baseball player: Inheritable Knowledge: we used the attributes instance, isa
and team. Each of these is shown in the figure with a directed arrow, originating at the
object that was being described and terminating at the object representing the value of the
specified attribute. These relationships are Binary relationships.

For example,

team (Pee-Wee-Reese, Brooklyn-Dodgers)

The second approach is to use attributes that focus on a single entity but to use them in pairs,
one the inverse of the other. In this approach, we would represent the team information with
two attributes:

One associated with Pee Wee Reese:

team=Brooklyn-Dodgers

One associated with Brooklyn Dodgers:

team-members=Pee-Wee-Reese,…
This is the approach that is taken in semantic net and frame-based systems.

An Isa Hierarchy of Attributes

As there are classes of objects and specialized subsets of those classes, there are attributes and
specializations of attributes. Consider, for example, the attribute height. It is actually a
specialization of the more general attribute physical-size which is, in turn, a specialization of
physical-attribute.

Techniques for Reasoning about Values

Sometimes values of attributes are specified explicitly when a knowledge base is created. But
often the reasoning system must reason about values it has not been given explicitly. Several
kinds of information can play a role in this reasoning, including:

o Information about the type of the value. For example, the value of height must be a number
measured in a unit of length.
o Constraints on the value often stated in terms of related entities. For example, the age of
a person cannot be greater than the age of either of that person’s parents.
o Needs Rules for computing the value when it is required. We showed an

example of such a rule in Figure 3 for the bats attribute. These rules are called backward
rules. Such rules have also been called if-needed rules.
o Rules that describe actions that should be taken if a value ever becomes known. These
rules are called forward rules, or sometimes if-added rules.
 Single-Valued Attributes
A specific but very useful kind of attribute is one that is guaranteed to take a
unique value. For example a baseball player can, at any one time, have only a single
height and be a member of only one team.

Knowledge-representation systems have taken several different approaches to providing

support for single-valued attributes, including:

o Introduce an explicit notation for temporal interval (a specific period of time that is used
to address problems related to temporal data). If two different values are ever asserted for
the same temporal interval, signal a contradiction automatically.
o Assume that the only temporal interval that is of interest is now. So if a new value is
asserted, replace the old value.
o Provide no explicit support. Logic-based systems are in this category. But in these systems,
knowledge-base builders can add axioms that state if an attribute has one value then it is
known not to have all other values.

Question bank
1. Define is Artificial Intelligence? Describe Key AI Techniques.
2. Explain the task domains/Applications of Artificial Intelligence.
3. Explain the Physical symbol system hypothesis with reference to AI.
4. Discuss the Turing test with an example.
5. Explain the four types of Production System Characteristics with an example for each.
6. What are the two types of Control Strategies in AI.
7. Discuss the AI Problem characteristics.
8. Explain Steps for Solving a Problem Using AI
9. Discuss Issues in the Design of Search Programs
10. What is Heuristic search and Heuristic Functions in Search.
11. Discuss the Block diagram explaining Representation of Facts.
12. Explain the Inference Knowledge representation Approach with an example.
13. Discuss the Inheritable knowledge representation with an example.
14. Explain the approaches to handle single-valued attribute
15. Explain decomposable problems with an example.
16. Write the four properties of knowledge representation systems.
17. Discuss the issues in knowledge representation.

Note: Problems done in the class of Module 1 and Module-2.