reasoning with uncertainty

Terms from Artificial Intelligence: humans at the heart of algorithms

Page numbers are for draft copy at present; they will be replaced with correct numbers when final book is formatted. Chapter numbers are correct and will not change now.

Sometimes we know all of the facts and every value with perfect accuracy. More often in life things are uncertain and we are used to reasoning with uncertainty. Computer systems are built over exact values, so AI often has to be more complex to deal with uncertainty. Sometimes this can be encoded in probabilities and can use Bayes Theorem or statistical techniques, although these usually require precise values for probabilites! It is also possible to use fuzzy logic or certainty factors which attempt to model, in different ways, the blurred buundaries between truth, falsity and our incomplete knowledge in between.

Defined on page 40

Used on Chap. 3: pages 40, 44, 51, 52; Chap. 12: page 267; Chap. 15: page 364

Also known as uncertain reasoning