Diagrammatic Reasoning in AI

347 Pages·2010·1.79 MB·English

by  Robbie T. Nakatsu

DIAGRAMMATIC
REASONING IN AI
RobbieNakatsu
AJOHNWILEY&SONS,INC.,PUBLICATION

DIAGRAMMATIC
REASONING IN AI

DIAGRAMMATIC
REASONING IN AI
RobbieNakatsu
AJOHNWILEY&SONS,INC.,PUBLICATION
Copyright©2010byJohnWiley&Sons,Inc.Allrightsreserved
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData:
Nakatsu,RobbieT.,1964–
DiagrammaticreasoninginAI / RobbieT.Nakatsu.
p.cm.
ISBN978-0-470-33187-3 (cloth)
1. Artificialintelligence–Graphicmethods. 2. Artificialintelligence–Mathematics. 3.
Reasoning–Graphicmethods. I. Title.
Q335.N3552009
006.3–dc22
2009015920
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
10987654321
CONTENTS
PREFACE vii
CHAPTER1 INTRODUCTION:WORKINGAROUND
THELIMITATIONSOFAI 1
CHAPTER2 MENTALMODELS:DIAGRAMSINTHE
MIND’SEYE 23
CHAPTER3 TYPESOFDIAGRAMS 57
CHAPTER4 LOGICREASONINGWITHDIAGRAMS 108
CHAPTER5 RULE-BASEDEXPERTSYSTEMS 143
CHAPTER6 RULE-BASEDREASONINGWITHDIAGRAMS 188
CHAPTER7 MODEL-BASEDREASONING 228
CHAPTER8 INEXACTREASONINGWITHCERTAINTY
FACTORSANDBAYESIANNETWORKS 264
CHAPTER9 AFRAMEWORKFORUNDERSTANDING
DIAGRAMMATICREASONING 302
INDEX 321
v

PREFACE
This book is really the end product of over a decade of work, on and off, on
diagrammatic reasoning in artificial intelligence (AI). In developing this book, I
drew inspiration from a variety of sources: two experimental studies, the devel-
opment of two prototype systems, an extensive literature review and analysis in
AI, human–computer interaction (HCI), and cognitive psychology. This work
especially contributes to our understanding of how to design the graphical user
interface to support the needs of the end user in decision-making and problem-
solving tasks. These are important topics today because there is an urgent need
to understand how end users can cope with increasingly complex information
technologies and computer-based information systems. Diagrammatic represen-
tations can help in this regard. Moreover, I believe that reasoning with diagrams
will become an important part of the newest generation of AI systems to be
developed in the future.
I began investigating the topic of diagrammatic reasoning several years ago
asadoctoralstudentwhile workingonresearchonuserinterfacedesign.Almost
serendipitously,Istumbledonaconceptincognitivepsychologyknownasmental
models. This is the idea that we construct models of the world in our minds to
help us in our daily interactions with the world. I was intrigued by the idea
and wanted to learn more about how, when, and why people do this. I believed
that if we could better understand what these mental models are about, then we
might use this knowledge to design computer user interfaces and aids, such as
tutorialsandexplanationsthatmightsupportpeopleincomplextasks,andintheir
everyday lives. I devote an entire chapter (Chapter 2) to the subject of mental
models.
It turns out that my investigation on mental models naturally and gradually
evolved into a more general investigation on diagrams. This is because I soon
vii