Knowledge-Based Agents in AI
Knowledge-Based Agents in AI
Inference system
Inference means deriving new sentences from old. Inference system allows us to add a new
sentence to the knowledge base. A sentence is a proposition about the world. Inference system
applies logical rules to the KB to deduce new information.
Inference system generates new facts so that an agent can update the KB. An inference system
works mainly in two rules which are given as:
o Forward chaining
o Backward chaining
1. TELL: This operation tells the knowledge base what it perceives from the environment.
2. ASK: This operation asks the knowledge base what action it should perform.
3. Perform: It performs the selected action.
A generic knowledge-based agent:
Following is the structure outline of a generic knowledge-based agents program:
1. function KB-AGENT(percept):
2. persistent: KB, a knowledge base
3. t, a counter, initially 0, indicating time
4. TELL(KB, MAKE-PERCEPT-SENTENCE(percept, t))
5. Action = ASK(KB, MAKE-ACTION-QUERY(t))
6. TELL(KB, MAKE-ACTION-SENTENCE(action, t))
7. t = t + 1
8. return action
The knowledge-based agent takes percept as input and returns an action as output. The agent
maintains the knowledge base, KB, and it initially has some background knowledge of the real
world. It also has a counter to indicate the time for the whole process, and this counter is
initialized with zero.
Each time when the function is called, it performs its three operations:
The MAKE-PERCEPT-SENTENCE generates a sentence as setting that the agent perceived the
given percept at the given time.
The MAKE-ACTION-QUERY generates a sentence to ask which action should be done at the
current time.
MAKE-ACTION-SENTENCE generates a sentence which asserts that the chosen action was
executed.
Various levels of knowledge-based agent:
A knowledge-based agent can be viewed at different levels which are given below:
1. Knowledge level
Knowledge level is the first level of knowledge-based agent, and in this level, we need to specify
what the agent knows, and what the agent goals are. With these specifications, we can fix its
behavior. For example, suppose an automated taxi agent needs to go from a station A to station
B, and he knows the way from A to B, so this comes at the knowledge level.
2. Logical level:
At this level, we understand that how the knowledge representation of knowledge is stored. At
this level, sentences are encoded into different logics. At the logical level, an encoding of
knowledge into logical sentences occurs. At the logical level we can expect to the automated taxi
agent to reach to the destination B.
3. Implementation level:
This is the physical representation of logic and knowledge. At the implementation level agent
perform actions as per logical and knowledge level. At this level, an automated taxi agent
actually implements his knowledge and logic so that he can reach to the destination.
However, in the real world, a successful agent can be built by combining both
declarative and procedural approaches, and declarative knowledge can often be
compiled into more efficient procedural code.
What is knowledge representation?
Humans are best at understanding, reasoning, and interpreting knowledge. Human
knows things, which is knowledge and as per their knowledge they perform various
actions in the real world. But how machines do all these things comes under
knowledge representation and reasoning. Hence we can describe Knowledge
representation as following:
What to Represent:
Following are the kind of knowledge which needs to be represented in AI systems:
o Object: All the facts about objects in our world domain. E.g., Guitars contains
strings, trumpets are brass instruments.
o Events: Events are the actions which occur in our world.
o Performance: It describe behavior which involves knowledge about how to do
things.
o Meta-knowledge: It is knowledge about what we know.
o Facts: Facts are the truths about the real world and what we represent.
o Knowledge-Base: The central component of the knowledge-based agents is the
knowledge base. It is represented as KB. The Knowledgebase is a group of the
Sentences (Here, sentences are used as a technical term and not identical with
the English language).
Knowledge: Knowledge is awareness or familiarity gained by experiences of facts,
data, and situations. Following are the types of knowledge in artificial intelligence:
Types of knowledge
Following are the various types of knowledge:
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1. Declarative Knowledge:
2. Procedural Knowledge
3. Meta-knowledge:
4. Heuristic knowledge:
5. Structural knowledge:
Let's suppose if you met some person who is speaking in a language which you don't
know, then how you will able to act on that. The same thing applies to the intelligent
behavior of the agents.
As we can see in below diagram, there is one decision maker which act by sensing the
environment and using knowledge. But if the knowledge part will not present then, it
cannot display intelligent behavior.
AI knowledge cycle:
An Artificial intelligence system has the following components for displaying intelligent
behavior:
o Perception
o Learning
o Knowledge Representation and Reasoning
o Planning
o Execution
The above diagram is showing how an AI system can interact with the real world and
what components help it to show intelligence. AI system has Perception component by
which it retrieves information from its environment. It can be visual, audio or another
form of sensory input. The learning component is responsible for learning from data
captured by Perception comportment. In the complete cycle, the main components are
knowledge representation and Reasoning. These two components are involved in
showing the intelligence in machine-like humans. These two components are
independent with each other but also coupled together. The planning and execution
depend on analysis of Knowledge representation and reasoning.
o It is the simplest way of storing facts which uses the relational method, and each
fact about a set of the object is set out systematically in columns.
o This approach of knowledge representation is famous in database systems
where the relationship between different entities is represented.
o This approach has little opportunity for inference.
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2. Inheritable knowledge:
o In the inheritable knowledge approach, all data must be stored into a hierarchy of
classes.
o All classes should be arranged in a generalized form or a hierarchal manner.
o In this approach, we apply inheritance property.
o Elements inherit values from other members of a class.
o This approach contains inheritable knowledge which shows a relation between
instance and class, and it is called instance relation.
o Every individual frame can represent the collection of attributes and its value.
o In this approach, objects and values are represented in Boxed nodes.
o We use Arrows which point from objects to their values.
o Example:
3. Inferential knowledge:
o Inferential knowledge approach represents knowledge in the form of formal
logics.
o This approach can be used to derive more facts.
o It guaranteed correctness.
o Example: Let's suppose there are two statements:
a. Marcus is a man
b. All men are mortal
Then it can represent as;
man(Marcus)
∀x = man (x) ----------> mortal (x)s
4. Procedural knowledge:
1. Representational Accuracy:
KR system should have the ability to represent all kind of required knowledge.
2. Inferential Adequacy:
KR system should have ability to manipulate the representational structures to
produce new knowledge corresponding to existing structure.
3. Inferential Efficiency:
The ability to direct the inferential knowledge mechanism into the most
productive directions by storing appropriate guides.
1. Logical Representation
2. Semantic Network Representation
3. Frame Representation
4. Production Rules
1. Logical Representation
Logical representation is a language with some concrete rules which deals with
propositions and has no ambiguity in representation. Logical representation means
drawing a conclusion based on various conditions. This representation lays down some
important communication rules. It consists of precisely defined syntax and semantics
which supports the sound inference. Each sentence can be translated into logics using
syntax and semantics.
Syntax:
o Syntaxes are the rules which decide how we can construct legal sentences in the
logic.
o It determines which symbol we can use in knowledge representation.
o How to write those symbols.
Semantics:
o Semantics are the rules by which we can interpret the sentence in the logic.
o Semantic also involves assigning a meaning to each sentence.
a. Propositional Logics
b. Predicate logics
Note: We will discuss Prepositional Logics and Predicate logics in later chapters.
1. Logical representations have some restrictions and are challenging to work with.
2. Logical representation technique may not be very natural, and inference may not
be so efficient.
Note: Do not be confused with logical representation and logical reasoning as logical
representation is a representation language and reasoning is a process of thinking logically.
Statements:
a. Jerry is a cat.
b. Jerry is a mammal
c. Jerry is owned by Priya.
d. Jerry is brown colored.
e. All Mammals are animal.
In the above diagram, we have represented the different type of knowledge in the form
of nodes and arcs. Each object is connected with another object by some relation.
Facets: The various aspects of a slot is known as Facets. Facets are features of
frames which enable us to put constraints on the frames. Example: IF-NEEDED facts
are called when data of any particular slot is needed. A frame may consist of any
number of slots, and a slot may include any number of facets and facets may have any
number of values. A frame is also known as slot-filter knowledge representation in
artificial intelligence.
Frames are derived from semantic networks and later evolved into our modern-day
classes and objects. A single frame is not much useful. Frames system consist of a
collection of frames which are connected. In the frame, knowledge about an object or
event can be stored together in the knowledge base. The frame is a type of technology
which is widely used in various applications including Natural language processing and
machine visions.
Example: 1
Let's take an example of a frame for a book
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Example 2:
Let's suppose we are taking an entity, Peter. Peter is an engineer as a profession, and
his age is 25, he lives in city London, and the country is England. So following is the
frame representation for this:
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Name Peter
Profession Doctor
Age 25
Weight 78
4. Production Rules
Production rules system consist of (condition, action) pairs which mean, "If condition
then action". It has mainly three parts:
In production rules agent checks for the condition and if the condition exists then
production rule fires and corresponding action is carried out. The condition part of the
rule determines which rule may be applied to a problem. And the action part carries out
the associated problem-solving steps. This complete process is called a recognize-act
cycle.
The working memory contains the description of the current state of problems-solving
and rule can write knowledge to the working memory. This knowledge match and may
fire other rules.
If there is a new situation (state) generates, then multiple production rules will be fired
together, this is called conflict set. In this situation, the agent needs to select a rule from
these sets, and it is called a conflict resolution.
Example:
o IF (at bus stop AND bus arrives) THEN action (get into the bus)
o IF (on the bus AND paid AND empty seat) THEN action (sit down).
o IF (on bus AND unpaid) THEN action (pay charges).
o IF (bus arrives at destination) THEN action (get down from the bus).
1. Production rule system does not exhibit any learning capabilities, as it does not
store the result of the problem for the future uses.
2. During the execution of the program, many rules may be active hence rule-based
production systems are inefficient.
Propositional logic in Artificial intelligence
Propositional logic (PL) is the simplest form of logic where all the statements are made
by propositions. A proposition is a declarative statement which is either true or false. It
is a technique of knowledge representation in logical and mathematical form.
Example:
1. a) It is Sunday.
2. b) The Sun rises from West (False proposition)
3. c) 3+3= 7(False proposition)
4. d) 5 is a prime number.
a. Atomic Propositions
b. Compound propositions
Example:
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Example:
Logical Connectives:
Logical connectives are used to connect two simpler propositions or representing a
sentence logically. We can create compound propositions with the help of logical
connectives. There are mainly five connectives, which are given as follows:
Truth Table:
In propositional logic, we need to know the truth values of propositions in all possible
scenarios. We can combine all the possible combination with logical connectives, and
the representation of these combinations in a tabular format is called Truth table.
Following are the truth table for all logical connectives:
Truth table with three propositions:
We can build a proposition composing three propositions P, Q, and R. This truth table is
made-up of 8n Tuples as we have taken three proposition symbols.
Precedence of connectives:
Just like arithmetic operators, there is a precedence order for propositional connectors
or logical operators. This order should be followed while evaluating a propositional
problem. Following is the list of the precedence order for operators:
Precedence Operators
Note: For better understanding use parenthesis to make sure of the correct interpretations.
Such as ¬R∨ Q, It can be interpreted as (¬R) ∨ Q.
Logical equivalence:
Logical equivalence is one of the features of propositional logic. Two propositions are
said to be logically equivalent if and only if the columns in the truth table are identical to
each other.
Let's take two propositions A and B, so for logical equivalence, we can write it as A⇔B.
In below truth table we can see that column for ¬A∨ B and A→B, are identical hence A
is Equivalent to B
Properties of Operators:
o Commutativity:
o P∧ Q= Q ∧ P, or
o P ∨ Q = Q ∨ P.
o Associativity:
o (P ∧ Q) ∧ R= P ∧ (Q ∧ R),
o (P ∨ Q) ∨ R= P ∨ (Q ∨ R)
o Identity element:
o P ∧ True = P,
o P ∨ True= True.
o Distributive:
o P∧ (Q ∨ R) = (P ∧ Q) ∨ (P ∧ R).
o P ∨ (Q ∧ R) = (P ∨ Q) ∧ (P ∨ R).
o DE Morgan's Law:
o ¬ (P ∧ Q) = (¬P) ∨ (¬Q)
o ¬ (P ∨ Q) = (¬ P) ∧ (¬Q).
o Double-negation elimination:
o ¬ (¬P) = P.
o We cannot represent relations like ALL, some, or none with propositional logic.
Example:
a. All the girls are intelligent.
b. Some apples are sweet.
o Propositional logic has limited expressive power.
o In propositional logic, we cannot describe statements in terms of their properties
or logical relationships.
Inference rules:
Inference rules are the templates for generating valid arguments. Inference rules are
applied to derive proofs in artificial intelligence, and the proof is a sequence of the
conclusion that leads to the desired goal.
In inference rules, the implication among all the connectives plays an important role.
Following are some terminologies related to inference rules:
From the above term some of the compound statements are equivalent to each other,
which we can prove using truth table:
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Hence from the above truth table, we can prove that P → Q is equivalent to ¬ Q → ¬ P,
and Q→ P is equivalent to ¬ P → ¬ Q.
Example:
2. Modus Tollens:
The Modus Tollens rule state that if P→ Q is true and ¬ Q is true, then ¬ P will also
true. It can be represented as:
3. Hypothetical Syllogism:
The Hypothetical Syllogism rule state that if P→R is true whenever P→Q is true, and
Q→R is true. It can be represented as the following notation:
Example:
Statement-1: If you have my home key then you can unlock my home. P→Q
Statement-2: If you can unlock my home then you can take my money. Q→R
Conclusion: If you have my home key then you can take my money. P→R
Example:
Proof by truth-table:
5. Addition:
The Addition rule is one the common inference rule, and it states that If P is true, then
P∨Q will be true.
Example:
Proof by Truth-Table:
6. Simplification:
The simplification rule state that if P∧ Q is true, then Q or P will also be true. It can be
represented as:
Proof by Truth-Table:
7. Resolution:
The Resolution rule state that if P∨Q and ¬ P∧R is true, then Q∨R will also be true. It
can be represented as
Proof by Truth-Table:
The Wumpus World in Artificial intelligence
Wumpus world:
The Wumpus world is a simple world example to illustrate the worth of a knowledge-
based agent and to represent knowledge representation. It was inspired by a video
game Hunt the Wumpus by Gregory Yob in 1973.
The Wumpus world is a cave which has 4/4 rooms connected with passageways. So
there are total 16 rooms which are connected with each other. We have a knowledge-
based agent who will go forward in this world. The cave has a room with a beast which
is called Wumpus, who eats anyone who enters the room. The Wumpus can be shot by
the agent, but the agent has a single arrow. In the Wumpus world, there are some Pits
rooms which are bottomless, and if agent falls in Pits, then he will be stuck there
forever. The exciting thing with this cave is that in one room there is a possibility of
finding a heap of gold. So the agent goal is to find the gold and climb out the cave
without fallen into Pits or eaten by Wumpus. The agent will get a reward if he comes out
with gold, and he will get a penalty if eaten by Wumpus or falls in the pit.
Following is a sample diagram for representing the Wumpus world. It is showing some
rooms with Pits, one room with Wumpus and one agent at (1, 1) square location of the
world.
There are also some components which can help the agent to navigate the cave.
These components are given as follows:
a. The rooms adjacent to the Wumpus room are smelly, so that it would have some
stench.
b. The room adjacent to PITs has a breeze, so if the agent reaches near to PIT,
then he will perceive the breeze.
c. There will be glitter in the room if and only if the room has gold.
d. The Wumpus can be killed by the agent if the agent is facing to it, and Wumpus
will emit a horrible scream which can be heard anywhere in the cave.
Performance measure:
o +1000 reward points if the agent comes out of the cave with the gold.
o -1000 points penalty for being eaten by the Wumpus or falling into the pit.
o -1 for each action, and -10 for using an arrow.
o The game ends if either agent dies or came out of the cave.
Environment:
Actuators:
o Left turn,
o Right turn
o Move forward
o Grab
o Release
o Shoot.
Sensors:
o The agent will perceive the stench if he is in the room adjacent to the Wumpus.
(Not diagonally).
o The agent will perceive breeze if he is in the room directly adjacent to the Pit.
o The agent will perceive the glitter in the room where the gold is present.
o The agent will perceive the bump if he walks into a wall.
o When the Wumpus is shot, it emits a horrible scream which can be perceived
anywhere in the cave.
o These percepts can be represented as five element list, in which we will have
different indicators for each sensor.
o Example if agent perceives stench, breeze, but no glitter, no bump, and no
scream then it can be represented as:
[Stench, Breeze, None, None, None].
The Wumpus world Properties:
o Partially observable: The Wumpus world is partially observable because the
agent can only perceive the close environment such as an adjacent room.
o Deterministic: It is deterministic, as the result and outcome of the world are
already known.
o Sequential: The order is important, so it is sequential.
o Static: It is static as Wumpus and Pits are not moving.
o Discrete: The environment is discrete.
o One agent: The environment is a single agent as we have one agent only and
Wumpus is not considered as an agent.
Initially, the agent is in the first room or on the square [1,1], and we already know that
this room is safe for the agent, so to represent on the below diagram (a) that room is
safe we will add symbol OK. Symbol A is used to represent agent, symbol B for the
breeze, G for Glitter or gold, V for the visited room, P for pits, W for Wumpus.
At Room [1,1] agent does not feel any breeze or any Stench which means the adjacent
squares are also OK.
Agent's second Step:
Now agent needs to move forward, so it will either move to [1, 2], or [2,1]. Let's suppose
agent moves to the room [2, 1], at this room agent perceives some breeze which means
Pit is around this room. The pit can be in [3, 1], or [2,2], so we will add symbol P? to say
that, is this Pit room?
Now agent will stop and think and will not make any harmful move. The agent will go
back to the [1, 1] room. The room [1,1], and [2,1] are visited by the agent, so we will use
symbol V to represent the visited squares.
At the third step, now agent will move to the room [1,2] which is OK. In the room [1,2]
agent perceives a stench which means there must be a Wumpus nearby. But Wumpus
cannot be in the room [1,1] as by rules of the game, and also not in [2,2] (Agent had not
detected any stench when he was at [2,1]). Therefore agent infers that Wumpus is in
the room [1,3], and in current state, there is no breeze which means in [2,2] there is no
Pit and no Wumpus. So it is safe, and we will mark it OK, and the agent moves further
in [2,2].
Agent's fourth step:
At room [2,2], here no stench and no breezes present so let's suppose agent decides to
move to [2,3]. At room [2,3] agent perceives glitter, so it should grab the gold and climb
out of the cave.
The agent starts visiting from first square [1, 1], and we already know that this room is
safe for the agent. To build a knowledge base for wumpus world, we will use some rules
and atomic propositions. We need symbol [i, j] for each location in the wumpus world,
where i is for the location of rows, and j for column location.
Atomic proposition variable for Wumpus world:
Note: For a 4 * 4 square board, there will be 7*4*4= 122 propositional variables.
Here in the first row, we have mentioned propositional variables for room[1,1], which is
showing that room does not have wumpus(¬ W11), no stench (¬S11), no Pit(¬P11), no
breeze(¬B11), no gold (¬G11), visited (V11), and the room is Safe(OK11).
In the second row, we have mentioned propositional variables for room [1,2], which is
showing that there is no wumpus, stench and breeze are unknown as an agent has not
visited room [1,2], no Pit, not visited yet, and the room is safe.
In the third row we have mentioned propositional variable for room[2,1], which is
showing that there is no wumpus(¬ W21), no stench (¬S21), no Pit (¬P21), Perceives
breeze(B21), no glitter(¬G21), visited (V21), and room is safe (OK21).
We will firstly apply MP rule with R1 which is ¬S11 → ¬ W11 ^ ¬ W12 ^ ¬ W21,
and ¬S11 which will give the output ¬ W11 ^ W12 ^ W12.
o Apply And-Elimination Rule:
After applying And-elimination rule to ¬ W11 ∧ ¬ W12 ∧ ¬ W21, we will get three
statements:
¬ W11, ¬ W12, and ¬W21.
Now we will apply Modus Ponens to ¬S21 and R2 which is ¬S21 → ¬ W21 ∧¬ W22 ∧ ¬ W31,
which will give the Output as ¬ W21 ∧ ¬ W22 ∧¬ W31
Now again apply And-elimination rule to ¬ W21 ∧ ¬ W22 ∧¬ W31, We will get three
statements:
¬ W21, ¬ W22, and ¬ W31.
Apply Modus Ponens to S12 and R4 which is S12 → W13 ∨. W12 ∨. W22 ∨.W11, we will get the
output as W13∨ W12 ∨ W22 ∨.W11.
o Apply Unit resolution on W13 ∨ W12 ∨ W22 ∨W11 and ¬ W11 :
After applying Unit resolution formula on W13 ∨ W12 ∨ W22 ∨W11 and ¬ W11 we will get
W13 ∨ W12 ∨ W22.
After applying Unit resolution on W13 ∨ W12 ∨ W22, and ¬W22, we will get W13 ∨ W12 as
output.
After Applying Unit resolution on W13 ∨ W12 and ¬ W12, we will get W13 as an output,
hence it is proved that the Wumpus is in the room [1, 3].
First-Order Logic in Artificial intelligence
In the topic of Propositional logic, we have seen that how to represent statements using
propositional logic. But unfortunately, in propositional logic, we can only represent the
facts, which are either true or false. PL is not sufficient to represent the complex
sentences or natural language statements. The propositional logic has very limited
expressive power. Consider the following sentence, which we cannot represent using
PL logic.
To represent the above statements, PL logic is not sufficient, so we required some more
powerful logic, such as first-order logic.
First-Order logic:
o First-order logic is another way of knowledge representation in artificial
intelligence. It is an extension to propositional logic.
o FOL is sufficiently expressive to represent the natural language statements in a
concise way.
o First-order logic is also known as Predicate logic or First-order predicate
logic. First-order logic is a powerful language that develops information about
the objects in a more easy way and can also express the relationship between
those objects.
o First-order logic (like natural language) does not only assume that the world
contains facts like propositional logic but also assumes the following things in the
world:
o Objects: A, B, people, numbers, colors, wars, theories, squares, pits,
wumpus, ......
o Relations: It can be unary relation such as: red, round, is adjacent, or
n-any relation such as: the sister of, brother of, has color, comes
between
o Function: Father of, best friend, third inning of, end of, ......
o As a natural language, first-order logic also has two main parts:
a. Syntax
b. Semantics
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Variables x, y, z, a, b,....
Connectives ∧, ∨, ¬, ⇒, ⇔
Equality ==
Quantifier ∀, ∃
Atomic sentences:
o Atomic sentences are the most basic sentences of first-order logic. These
sentences are formed from a predicate symbol followed by a parenthesis with a
sequence of terms.
o We can represent atomic sentences as Predicate (term1, term2, ......, term n).
Complex Sentences:
Consider the statement: "x is an integer.", it consists of two parts, the first part x is
the subject of the statement and second part "is an integer," is known as a predicate.
o For all x
o For each x
o For every x.
Example:
All man drink coffee.
Let a variable x which refers to a cat so all x can be represented in UOD as below:
Existential Quantifier:
Existential quantifiers are the type of quantifiers, which express that the statement
within its scope is true for at least one instance of something.
If x is a variable, then existential quantifier will be ∃x or ∃(x). And it will be read as:
Example:
Some boys are intelligent.
Points to remember:
o The main connective for universal quantifier ∀ is implication →.
o The main connective for existential quantifier ∃ is and ∧.
Properties of Quantifiers:
o In universal quantifier, ∀x∀y is similar to ∀y∀x.
o In Existential quantifier, ∃x∃y is similar to ∃y∃x.
o ∃x∀y is not similar to ∀y∃x.
Inference engine:
The inference engine is the component of the intelligent system in artificial intelligence,
which applies logical rules to the knowledge base to infer new information from known
facts. The first inference engine was part of the expert system. Inference engine
commonly proceeds in two modes, which are:
a. Forward chaining
b. Backward chaining
Horn clause and definite clause are the forms of sentences, which enables knowledge
base to use a more restricted and efficient inference algorithm. Logical inference
algorithms use forward and backward chaining approaches, which require KB in the
form of the first-order definite clause.
Definite clause: A clause which is a disjunction of literals with exactly one positive
literal is known as a definite clause or strict horn clause.
Horn clause: A clause which is a disjunction of literals with at most one positive
literal is known as horn clause. Hence all the definite clauses are horn clauses.
It is equivalent to p ∧ q → k.
A. Forward Chaining
Forward chaining is also known as a forward deduction or forward reasoning method
when using an inference engine. Forward chaining is a form of reasoning which start
with atomic sentences in the knowledge base and applies inference rules (Modus
Ponens) in the forward direction to extract more data until a goal is reached.
The Forward-chaining algorithm starts from known facts, triggers all rules whose
premises are satisfied, and add their conclusion to the known facts. This process
repeats until the problem is solved.
Properties of Forward-Chaining:
Consider the following famous example which we will use in both approaches:
Example:
"As per the law, it is a crime for an American to sell weapons to hostile nations.
Country A, an enemy of America, has some missiles, and all the missiles were
sold to it by Robert, who is an American citizen."
To solve the above problem, first, we will convert all the above facts into first-order
definite clauses, and then we will use a forward-chaining algorithm to reach the goal.
In the first step we will start with the known facts and will choose the sentences which
do not have implications, such as: American(Robert), Enemy(A, America), Owns(A,
T1), and Missile(T1). All these facts will be represented as below.
Step-2:
At the second step, we will see those facts which infer from available facts and with
satisfied premises.
Rule-(1) does not satisfy premises, so it will not be added in the first iteration.
Rule-(4) satisfy with the substitution {p/T1}, so Sells (Robert, T1, A) is added, which
infers from the conjunction of Rule (2) and (3).
Rule-(6) is satisfied with the substitution(p/A), so Hostile(A) is added and which infers
from Rule-(7).
Step-3:
At step-3, as we can check Rule-(1) is satisfied with the substitution {p/Robert, q/T1,
r/A}, so we can add Criminal(Robert) which infers all the available facts. And hence
we reached our goal statement.
Hence it is proved that Robert is Criminal using forward chaining approach.
B. Backward Chaining:
Backward-chaining is also known as a backward deduction or backward reasoning
method when using an inference engine. A backward chaining algorithm is a form of
reasoning, which starts with the goal and works backward, chaining through rules to find
known facts that support the goal.
Example:
In backward-chaining, we will use the same above example, and will rewrite all the
rules.
Backward-Chaining proof:
In Backward chaining, we will start with our goal predicate, which is Criminal (Robert),
and then infer further rules.
Step-1:
At the first step, we will take the goal fact. And from the goal fact, we will infer other
facts, and at last, we will prove those facts true. So our goal fact is "Robert is Criminal,"
so following is the predicate of it.
Step-2:
At the second step, we will infer other facts form goal fact which satisfies the rules. So
as we can see in Rule-1, the goal predicate Criminal (Robert) is present with
substitution {Robert/P}. So we will add all the conjunctive facts below the first level and
will replace p with Robert.
Step-4:
At step-4, we can infer facts Missile(T1) and Owns(A, T1) form Sells(Robert, T1, r)
which satisfies the Rule- 4, with the substitution of A in place of r. So these two
statements are proved here.
Step-5:
At step-5, we can infer the fact Enemy(A, America) from Hostile(A) which satisfies
Rule- 6. And hence all the statements are proved true using backward chaining.
Difference between backward chaining and
forward chaining
Following is the difference between the forward chaining and backward chaining:
o Forward chaining as the name suggests, start from the known facts and move
forward by applying inference rules to extract more data, and it continues until it
reaches to the goal, whereas backward chaining starts from the goal, move
backward by using inference rules to determine the facts that satisfy the goal.
o Forward chaining is called a data-driven inference technique, whereas backward
chaining is called a goal-driven inference technique.
o Forward chaining is known as the down-up approach, whereas backward
chaining is known as a top-down approach.
o Forward chaining uses breadth-first search strategy, whereas backward
chaining uses depth-first search strategy.
o Forward and backward chaining both applies Modus ponens inference rule.
o Forward chaining can be used for tasks such as planning, design process
monitoring, diagnosis, and classification, whereas backward chaining can be
used for classification and diagnosis tasks.
o Forward chaining can be like an exhaustive search, whereas backward chaining
tries to avoid the unnecessary path of reasoning.
o In forward-chaining there can be various ASK questions from the knowledge
base, whereas in backward chaining there can be fewer ASK questions.
o Forward chaining is slow as it checks for all the rules, whereas backward
chaining is fast as it checks few required rules only.
1. Forward chaining starts from known facts Backward chaining starts from the goal
and applies inference rule to extract more and works backward through inference
data unit it reaches to the goal. rules to find the required facts that
support the goal.
5. Forward chaining tests for all the available Backward chaining only tests for few
rules required rules.
9. Forward chaining is aimed for any Backward chaining is only aimed for the
conclusion. required data.
Relationship Issue
When we represent some knowledge in a specific way some relationship issue arrives.
For example, inverses, existence, techniques for reasoning about values and single valued
attributes.
language(Danny, Javascript)
This tells Danny is Javascript Developer or Danny’s language is Javascript.
language = Javascript
developers = Danny, ........
There is a little bit difference in relationship representation in above two case.
Granularity Issue
While representing any knowledge we should care at what level should the knowledge be
represented and what are the primitives. Granularity of Representation Primitives are
fundamental concepts such as holding, seeing, playing.
For example, English is a popular language with over half a million words.
It needs to ensure we will find difficulty in deciding upon which words to choose as our
primitives in a series of situations. See the below statements:
feeds(harry, dog)
If Harry gives the dog a bone that could be:
In this condition we may need an additional statement which will relate the giving as
feeding.
Attribute Issue
There are some attributes which may occur in many different types of problem.
Consider, there are two instance and isa and each is important because each supports
property inheritance.
Therefore, today, we will explore the concept of the rule-based system (RBS) and try
to understand its role in research and development.
WHAT ARE RULE-BASED SYSTEMS (RBS)?
Present in the heart of automated processes, Rule-Based System technology helps
develop knowledge-based systems and applications, that is, intelligent programs and
software capable of providing specialized problem-solving expertise in a specific subject
by utilizing domain-specific knowledge. In rule-based systems, knowledge is encoded
in the form of facts, goals, and rules and is used to evaluate and manipulate data.
These are, in short, computer systems that use rules to perform a variety of tasks like
diagnoses, solve a problem, interpretation, or to determine a course of action in a
particular situation. Moreover, these are applied to systems involving human-crafted or
curated rule nodes and can be used to perform lexical analysis to compile or interpret
computer programs, or in natural language processing.