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CS486/686 Lecture Slides (c) 2008 P. Poupart
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Propositional Logic
CS 486/686 Sept 23, 2008 University of Waterloo
CS486/686 Lecture Slides (c) 2008 P. Poupart
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Outline
- Knowledge base
- Propositional logic
– Syntax and semantics
- Inference
– Backtracking (DPLL) – Resolution – Local search (GSAT, WALKSAT)
CS486/686 Lecture Slides (c) 2008 P. Poupart
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Introduction
- Many tasks can be formalized as search
problems
- How to design search algorithms that are
general, yet efficient?
- Generality: problem independent algorithm
- Efficiency: exploit domain knowledge
– Heuristic function – Constraints
- Is there a good language for this?
CS486/686 Lecture Slides (c) 2008 P. Poupart
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Logic
- General language
– Can encode any kind of deterministic and discrete knowledge – Well defined syntax and semantics – Knowledge base: store domain knowledge
- General algorithms
– Search by inference – Can infirm or confirm conclusions
CS486/686 Lecture Slides (c) 2008 P. Poupart
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Declarative Approach
- Do not program the solution
- Just describe the problem
- Knowledge base
– Set of logic sentences
- Goal:
– Logical formula to be confirmed/infirmed
- Solution
– Inference algorithm
CS486/686 Lecture Slides (c) 2008 P. Poupart
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Syntax of a very simple logic
- Sentence AtomicSentence | ComplexSentence
- AtomicSentence True | False | Symbol
- Symbol P | Q | R | …
- ComplexSentence ¬Sentence