Comparative analysis

摘要

Comparative analysis is the problem of predicting how a system will react to perturbations in its parameters, and why. For example, comparative analysis could be asked to explain why the period of an oscillating spring/block system would increase if the mass of the block were larger. This paper formalizes the problem of comparative analysis and presents a technique, differential quantitative (DQ) analysis, which solves the task, providing explanations suitable for use by design systems, automated diagnosis, intelligent tutoring systems, and explanation-based generalization.