Representation and extraction of information by probabilistic logic

摘要

In general, a probabilistic knowledge base consists of a joint probability distribution on discrete random variables. Though it allows of easy computability and efficient propagation methods, its inherent knowledge is hardly accessible for the user. The concept introduced in this paper permits an interactive communication between man and machine by use of probabilistic logic: The user is able to convey all know-how available to the system, and conversely, knowledge embodied by the distribution is revealed in an understandable way. Uncertain rules constitute the link between commonsense and probabilistic knowledge representation. The concept developed in this paper is partly realized in the probabilistic expert system shell SPIRIT. An application of SPIRIT to a real life example is described in the appendix.