Many AI problems, when formalized, reduce to evaluating the probability that a propositional expression is true. In this paper we show that this problem is computationally intractable even in surprisingly restricted cases and even if we settle for an approximation to this probability. We consider various methods used in approximate reasoning such as computing degree of belief and Bayesian belief networks, as well as reasoning techniques such as constraint satisfaction and knowledge compilation, that use approximation to avoid computational difficulties, and reduce them to model-counting problems over a propositional domain. We prove that counting satisfying assignments of propositional languages is intractable even for Horn and monotone formulae, and even when the size of clauses and number of occurrences of the variables are extremely limited. This should be contrasted with the case of deductive reasoning, where Horn theories and theories with binary clauses are distinguished by the e...

Computational efficiency is a central concern in the design of knowledge representation systems. In order to obtain efficient systems, it has been suggested that one should limit the form of the statements in the knowledge base or use an incomplete inference mechanism. The former approach is often too restrictive for practical applications, whereas the latter leads to uncertainty about exactly what can and cannot be inferred from the knowledge base. We present a third alternative, in which knowledge given in a general representation language is translated (compiled) into a tractable form — allowing for efficient subsequent query answering. We show how propositional logical theories can be compiled into Horn theories that approximate the original information. The approximations bound the original theory from below and above in terms of logical strength. The procedures are extended to other tractable languages (for example, binary clauses) and to the first-order case. Finally, we demonstrate the generality of our approach by compiling concept descriptions in a general framebased language into a tractable form.

this paper we survey recent results in knowledge compilation of propositional knowledge bases. We first define and limit the scope of such a technique, then we survey exact and approximate knowledge compilation methods. We include a discussion of compilation for non-monotonic knowledge bases. Keywords: Knowledge Representation, Efficiency of Reasoning

Problems in logic are well-known to be hard to solve in the worst case. Two different strategies for dealing with this aspect are known from the literature: language restriction and theory approximation. In this paper we are concerned with the second strategy. Our main goal is to define a semantically well-founded logic for approximate reasoning, which is justifiable from the intuitive point of view, and to provide fast algorithms for dealing with it even when using expressive languages. We also want our logic to be useful to perform approximate reasoning in different contexts. We define a method for the approximation of decision reasoning problems based on multivalued logics. Our work expands and generalizes in several directions ideas presented by other researchers. The major features of our technique are: 1) approximate answers give semantically clear information about the problem at hand; 2) approximate answers are easier to compute than answers to the original problem; 3) approxim...

Reasoning with model-based representations is an intuitive paradigm, which has been shown to be theoretically sound and to possess some computational advantages over reasoning with formula-based representations of knowledge. In this paper we present more evidence to the utility of such representations. In real life situations, one normally completes a lot of missing "context" information when answering queries. We model this situation by augmenting the available knowledge about the world with context-specific information; we show that reasoning with model-based representations can be done efficiently in the presence of varying context information. We then consider the task of default reasoning. We show that default reasoning is a generalization of reasoning within context, in which the reasoner has many "context" rules, which may be conflicting. We characterize the cases in which model-based reasoning supports efficient default reasoning and develop algorithms that handle efficiently fragments of Reiter's default logic. In particular, this includes cases in which performing the default reasoning task with the traditional, formula-based, representation is intractable. Further, we argue that these results support an incremental view of reasoning in a natural way.

This paper presents several investigations into the prospects for identifying meaningful structures in empirical data, namely, structures permitting effective organization of the data to meet requirements of future queries. We propose a general framework whereby the notion of identifiability is given a precise formal definition similar to that of learnability. Using this framework, we then explore if a tractable procedure exists for deciding whether a given relation is decomposable into a constraint network or a CNF theory with desirable topology and, if the answer is positive, identifying the desired decomposition. Finally, we

We develop a methodology for comparing knowledge representation formalisms in terms of their "representational succinctness, " that is, their ability to express knowledge situations relatively efficiently. We use this framework for comparing many important formalisms for knowledge base representation: propositional logic, default logic, circumscription, and model preference defaults; and, at a lower level, Horn formulas, characteristic models, decision trees, disjunctive normal form, and conjunctive normal form. We also show that adding new variables improves the effective expressibility of certain knowledge representation formalisms. 1

Abstract. We introduce a new framework for the study of reasoning. The Learning (in order) to Reason approach developed here views learning as an integral part of the inference process, and suggests that learning and reasoning should be studied together. The Learning to Reason framework combines the interfaces to the world used by known learning models with the reasoning task and a performance criterion suitable for it. In this framework, the intelligent agent is given access to its favorite learning interface, and is also given a grace period in which it can interact with this interface and construct a representation KB of the world W. The reasoning performance is measured only after this period, when the agent is presented with queries � from some query language, relevant to the world, and has to answer whether W implies �. The approach is meant to overcome the main computational difficulties in the traditional treatment of reasoning which stem from its separation from the “world”. Since the agent interacts with the world when constructing its knowledge representation it can choose a representation that is useful for the task at hand. Moreover, we can now make explicit the dependence of the reasoning performance on the environment the agent interacts with. We show how previous results from learning theory and reasoning fit into this framework and

Knowledge compilation speeds inference by creating tractable approximations of a knowledge base, but this advantage is lost if the approximations are too large. We show how learning concept generalizations can allow for a more compact representation of the tractable theory. We also give a general induction rule for generating such concept generalizations. Finally, we prove that unless NP ` non-uniform P, not all theories have small Horn least upper-bound approximations. 1 Introduction Work in machine learning has traditionally been divided into two main camps: concept learning (e.g. [ Kearns, 1990 ] ) and speed-up learning (e.g. [ Minton, 1988 ] ). The work reported in this paper bridges these two areas by showing how concept learning can be used to speed up inference by allowing a more compact and efficient representation of a knowledge base. We have been studying techniques for boosting the performance of knowledge representation systems by compiling expressive but intractable repre...

The Frechet distance between two curves in a metric space is a measure of the similarity between the curves. We present a discrete variation of this measure. It provides