UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS: 2021/2022
EXAMINATION FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY/APPLIED COMPUTING/ SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT
BIT 4405/ BAC 2305/ BSD 2303: EXPERT SYSTEMS
FULL TIME/PART TIME/DISTANCE LEARNING
ORDINARY EXAMINATION
DATE: JULY/AUGUST, 2022 TIME: 2 HOURS
INSTRUCTIONS: Question One is Compulsory, Choose Two Other Questions
Question One
a). What is the main difference between conventional computer programs and production
systems? 6 marks
b). Why a production system model was used to implement the first rule based expert systems?
4 marks
c). What types of knowledge are used by neural networks and by rule-based systems? What
kinds of systems are they with respect to the type of knowledge they use? 4 marks
d). Describe using examples how you would create rules and facts 6 marks
Question Two
a). What are the major benefits of the ES compared to the manual system? 6 marks
b). Given the current status of the Web, discuss how it is changing the availability of ES and
how it is being used to embed expertise in other systems. 5 marks
c). Explain the difference between forward chaining and backward chaining and the situations
where each one is more appropriate. 4 marks
Question Three
a). Define the ES development environment and contrast it with the consultation environment.
5 marks
b). Explain the types of knowledge that constitute expertise. 6 marks
c). Describe how expert systems perform inference. 4 marks
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Question Four
a). Why knowledge acquisition is considered difficult? 6 marks
b). Describe at least 3 advantages that expert systems have over organisations that would
otherwise have to employ human experts. 6 marks
c). Define an intelligent agent. Why is it useful? 3 marks