Introduction to Artificial Intelligence

CoSc4142
Book: Artificial Intelligence, A Modern Approach (Russell & Norvig)

Enyew T.
1
 Chapter Four

Knowledge and Reasoning

2
ΑΙ and KR

• A description of Artificial
Intelligence is:
– The study and development of
systems that demonstrate intelligent
behavior

• Based on the above, a description KR&R is the part of AI that is

of Knowledge Representation & concerned with thinking and
Reasoning is: how thinking contributes to
– The study of ways to represent and intelligent behavior
reason with information in order to
achieve intelligent behavior
Knowledge Representation and Reasoning
• KR suggests an approach to understanding intelligent behavior that is radically
different
– Instead of studying humans very carefully (biology, nervous systems,
psychology, sociology, etc.), it argues that what we need to study is what
humans know.
– It is taken as a given that what allows humans to behave intelligently is that
they can know “things” and “reason”
• KR&R focuses on the knowledge, not on the knower.
• We ask what any agent(human, animal, electronic, mechanical) would need to
know to behave intelligently, and what sorts of computational mechanisms
might allow its knowledge to be manipulated.
4
Knowledge
• facts, information, and skills acquired through experience or education;
the theoretical or practical understanding of a domain.
• Observe that when we say something like “John knows that …,” we fill in
the blank with a simple
– “John knows that Mary will come to the party,”
– “John knows that Spain won the Euro”
• Among other things, knowledge is a relation between a knower and a proposition
– knower : John
– proposition: the idea expressed by a simple declarative sentence, like “Mary
will come to the party.”
• can be true or false, right or wrong

5
Representation
• Is a relationship between two domains, where the first is meant to “stand
for” or take the place of the second.

– Usually, the first domain, the representor, is more concrete,

immediate, or accessible in some way than the second.
• an elected member of parliament might stand for his or her constituency

• Knowledge representation, then, is the field of study concerned with

using formal symbols to represent a collection of propositions believed by
some agent.
6
Reasoning
• In general, it is the formal manipulation of the symbols representing a
collection of believed propositions to produce representations of new ones.

– We might start with the sentences “John loves Mary” and “Mary is coming
to the party” and after a certain amount of manipulation produce the
sentence, “Someone John loves is coming to the party.”
– We would call this form of reasoning logical inference because the final
sentence represents a logical conclusion of the propositions represented
by the initial ones.
• Reasoning is a form of calculation, not unlike arithmetic, but over symbols
standing for propositions rather than numbers.
7
How can knowledge be represented ?
• There are mainly four ways of knowledge representation
– Logical Representation
– Semantic Representation
– Frame Representation
– Production Rules
Basic Idea of Logic

• Logic can be defined as the proof or validation behind any reason

provided.
• It was important to include logic in Artificial Intelligence because we want
our agent (system) to think and act humanly, and for doing so, it should be
capable of taking any decision based on the current situation.
• Knowledge-based agents are those agents who have the capability of
maintaining an internal state of knowledge, reason over that knowledge,
update their knowledge after observations and take actions.

9
Knowledge-Based Agents
• Central component of a Knowledge-Based Agent is a Knowledge-Base
– A set of sentences in a formal language
• Sentences are expressed using a knowledge representation language
• Two generic functions:
– TELL - add new sentences (facts) to the KB
• “Tell it what it needs to know”
– ASK - query what is known from the KB
• “Ask what to do next”

10
Knowledge based agent
• Is composed of:
1. Knowledge base: Domain Specific
2. Inference Mechanism: Domain independent algorithm
The inference engine applies logical rules to the
knowledge base and deduced new knowledge.

11
Knowledge-Based Agents
• Declarative
– You can build a knowledge-based agent simply by “TELLing”
it what it needs to know
• Procedural
– Encode desired behaviours directly as program code
• Simple world example:
– Wumpus World

12
Logical Representation
• It is a language with some concrete rules which deals with
propositions & has no ambiguity in representation
• It consists of precisely defines Syntax and Semantics .
• each sentence can be translated into logics using syntax and
semantics.
– Syntax: defines well- formed sentence in the language
– Semantics: defines the truth or meaning of sentence in world

13
Logical Representation
• Can be explained by:
1. Propositional logic
2. Predicate logic

14
Propositional Logic (PL)

• Is the simplest logic

• Declarative statement, either it can be true or false.
• It is a technique of knowledge representation in logical and mathematical form.
• Syntax
• Propositions, e.g. “it is wet”
• Logical Connectives: and (conjuction), or(disjunction), not (negation), implies (implication), iff (biconditional)
• Brackets, T (true) and F (false)
• Semantics
– Define how connectives affect truth
– “P and Q” is true if and only if P is true and Q is true
– Use truth tables to work out the truth of statements

15
 Logical connectives
Logical connectives are used to connect two simpler propositions or representing a sentence logically.
1. Negation: A sentence such as ¬ P is called negation of P. A literal can be either Positive literal or negative literal.
2. Conjunction: A sentence which has ∧ connective such as, P ∧ Q is called a conjunction.
Example: Rohan is intelligent and hardworking. It can be written as,
P= Rohan is intelligent,
Q= Rohan is hardworking. → P∧ Q.
3. Disjunction: A sentence which has ∨ connective, such as P ∨ Q. is called disjunction, where P and Q are the
propositions.
Example: "Ritika is a doctor or Engineer",
Here P= Ritika is Doctor. Q= Ritika is Engineer, so we can write it as P ∨ Q.
4. Implication: A sentence such as P → Q, is called an implication. Implications are also known as if-then rules. It can
be represented as
            If it is raining, then the street is wet.
        Let P= It is raining, and Q= Street is wet, so it is represented as P → Q
5. Biconditional: A sentence such as P⇔ Q is a Biconditional sentence, example If I am breathing, then I am alive
            P= I am breathing, Q= I am alive, it can be represented as P ⇔ Q.
16
…continued
• Truth Table

• E.g. • Conditions
P – It is hot  If it is humid, then it is hot QP
Q – It is humid  If it is hot and humid then it is not raining (P Ʌ Q)  ¬R
R – It is raining

17
 WUMPUS World
• Performance Measure
PEAS description of Wumpus world

– Gold +1000, Death – 1000

– Step -1, Use arrow -10
– The game ends if either agent dies or came out of the cave.
• Environment
– Square adjacent to the Wumpus are smelly
– Squares adjacent to the pit are breezy
– Glitter iff gold is in the same square
– Shooting kills Wumpus if you are facing it
– Shooting uses up the only arrow
– Grabbing picks up the gold if in the same square
– Releasing drops the gold in the same square
• Actuators
– Left turn, right turn, forward, grab, release, shoot
• Sensors
– Breeze, glitter, smell, dump and scream.
18
Wumpus World PEAS description
• Fully Observable No – only local perception
• Deterministic Yes – outcomes exactly specified
• Episodic No – sequential at the level of actions
• Static Yes – Wumpus and Pits do not move
• Discrete Yes
• Single-agent? Yes – Wumpus is essentially a natural feature

19
 Exploring the Wumpus World

1. EThe KB initially contains the rules of the environment.

2. [1,1] The first percept is [none, none,none,none,none], Move to safe cell e.g. 2,1

3. [2,1] Breeze indicates that there is a pit in [2,2] or [3,1] Return to [1,1] to try next safe cell 20
 …

4. [1,2] Stench in cell: wumpus is in [1,3] or [2,2]

YET … not in [1,1]
• Thus … not in [2,2] or stench would have been detected in [2,1]
• Thus … wumpus is in [1,3]
• Thus … [2,2] is safe because of lack of breeze in [1,2]
• Thus … pit in [3,1]
21
• Move to next safe cell [2,2]
…..

5. [2,2] Detect nothing

Move to unvisited safe cell e.g. [2,3]
6. [2,3] Detect glitter , smell, breeze
Thus… pick up gold
Thus… pit in [3,3] or [2,4] 22
Lecture 2

23
First Order Predicate Logic

• FOL is another way of knowledge representation in A I

• It is an extension to PL( Propositional Logic)
• It is a powerful language that develops information about the object in a more
easy way and can also express the relationship between those objects
• FOL doesn’t only assume that the world contains facts like PL but also assume
– Objects
– Relations
– Function

24
…continued
• As a natural language, first-order logic also has two
main parts:
– Syntax
– Semantics
• The syntax of FOL determines which collection of
symbols is a logical expression in first-order logic.
• The basic syntactic elements of FOL are symbols.
25
First Order Logic
• More expressive logic than propositional
• Constants are objects: john, apples
• Predicates are properties and relations:
– likes(john, apples)
• Functions transform objects:
– likes(john, fruit_of(apple_tree))
• Variables represent any object: likes(X, apples)
• Quantifiers qualify values of variables
– True for all objects (Universal): X. likes(X, apples)
– Exists at least one object (Existential): X. likes(X, apples)

26
 …
Constant 1, 2, A, John,
Addisababa, cat,....

Variables x, y, z, a, b,....

Basic Elements of First-order Predicates Brother, Father,

logic >,....

Function sqrt, LeftLegOf, ....

Connectives ∧, ∨, ¬, ⇒, ⇔
Equality ==
Quantifier ∀, ∃ 27
…
• Sentence in FOL can be
– Atomic or
– Complex
• Atomic Sentences:
– are most basic sentences of FOL
– Formed from a predicate symbol followed by a parenthesis with a sequence of
terms.
– We can represent atomic sentences as Predicate (term1, term2, ......, term n).
– Example:
• John and David are brothers: => Brothers(John, David).
• Jack is a dog: => dog(Jack).
28
…
• Complex Sentences:
–  are made by combining atomic sentences using
connectives.
– Example:
• Sibling(KingJohn, Richard) ⇒ Sibling(Richard, KingJohn)

29
…
• First-order logic statements can be divided into two parts:
– Subject: 
• Subject is the main part of the statement.
– Predicate:
•  A predicate can be defined as a relation, which binds two atoms together
in a statement.
– Example

30
 Quantifiers in First-order logic:
• A quantifier is a language element which generates quantification, and
• quantification specifies the quantity of specimen in the universe of discourse.
• These are the symbols that permit to determine or identify the range and scope
of the variable in the logical expression.
• There are two types of quantifier:
– Universal Quantifier, (for all, everyone, everything)
– Existential quantifier, (for some, at least one).

31
 Quantifiers in First-order logic:
• Universal quantifier
– is a symbol of logical representation, which specifies that the statement within its
range is true for everything or every instance of a particular thing.
– is represented by a symbol ∀, which resembles an inverted A.
– In universal quantifier we use implication " ⇒ "
– If x is a variable, then ∀x is read as:
• For all x
• For each x
• For every x.
– Example: All man drink coffee.
• Let a variable x which refers to a man so all x can be represented in: ∀x man(x) → drink (x, coffee).
• It will be read as: There are all x where x is a man who drink coffee.
32
Quantifiers in First-order logic:
• Existential quantifiers
– are the type of quantifiers, which express that the statement within its scope is
true for at least one instance of something.
– It is denoted by the logical operator ∃, which resembles as inverted E.
– In Existential quantifier we always use AND or Conjunction symbol (∧).
– If x is a variable, then existential quantifier will be ∃x or ∃(x). And it will be
read as:
• There exists a 'x.'
• For some 'x.'
• For at least one 'x.‘
– Example: Some boys are intelligent.
• ∃x: boys(x) ∧ intelligent(x)
• It will be read as: There is some x where x is a boy who is intelligent. 33
Some Examples of FOL using quantifier:
– All birds fly.
the predicate is "fly(bird)."
And since there are all birds who fly so it will be represented as follows.
              ∀x bird(x) →fly(x).
– Every man respects his parent.
the predicate is "respect(x, y)," where x=man, and y= parent.
Since there is every man so will use ∀, and it will be represented as follows:
              ∀x man(x) → respects (x, parent).
– Some boys play football.
the predicate is "play(x, y)," where x= boys, and y= game. Since there are some boys so we will use ∃,
and it will be represented as:
              ∃x boys(x) ∧ play(x, football).
– Not all students like both Mathematics and Science.
the predicate is "like(x, y)," where x= student, and y= subject.
Since there are not all students, so we will use ∀ with negation, so following representation for this:
              ¬∀ (x) [ student(x) → like(x, Mathematics) ∧ like(x, Science)]. 34
 Inference in FOL
• Inference in FOL is used to deduce new facts or sentences from existing sentences
Terminologies:
• Substitution:
– is a fundamental operation performed on terms and formulas.
– It occurs in all inference systems in first-order logic.
– The substitution is complex in the presence of quantifiers in FOL.
– If we write F[a/x], so it refers to substitute a constant "a" in place of variable "x".
• Equality:
– FOL does not only use predicate and terms for making atomic sentences but also uses another way, which
is equality in FOL.
– For this, we can use equality symbols which specify that the two terms refer to the same object.
– Example: Brother (John) = Smith.
• As in the above example, the object referred by the Brother (John) is similar to the object referred by Smith.
• The equality symbol can also be used with negation to represent that two terms are not the same objects.
– Example: ￢ (x=y) which is equivalent to x ≠y.
35
FOL inference rules for quantifier:
• basic inference rules in FOL are:
– Universal Generalization
– Universal Instantiation
– Existential Instantiation
– Existential introduction

36
…continued
• Universal Generalization:
– is a valid inference rule which states that if premise P(c) is true for any
arbitrary element c in the universe of discourse, then we can have a
conclusion as ∀ x P(x).
– It can be represented as:
– This rule can be used if we want to show that every element has a
similar property.
– Example:
• Let's represent, P(c): "A byte contains 8 bits", so for ∀ x P(x) "All bytes contain 8
bits.", it will also be true.

37
…continued
• Universal Instantiation:
– is also called as universal elimination or UI is a valid inference rule.
– It can be applied multiple times to add new sentences.
– The new KB is logically equivalent to the previous KB.
– As per UI, we can infer any sentence obtained by substituting a ground term
for the variable.
– The UI rule state that we can infer any sentence P(c) by substituting a ground
term c (a constant within domain x) from ∀ x P(x) for any object in the universe
of discourse.
– It can be represented as:
– Example:1.
• IF "Every person like ice-cream"=> ∀x P(x) so we can infer that, "John likes ice-cream" => P(c) 38
 …continued
• Existential Instantiation:
– is also called as Existential Elimination, which is a valid inference rule in FOL.
– It can be applied only once to replace the existential sentence.
– The new KB is not logically equivalent to old KB, but it will be satisfiable if old KB was satisfiable.
– This rule states that one can infer P(c) from the formula given in the form of ∃x P(x) for a new
constant symbol c.
– The restriction with this rule is that c used in the rule must be a new term for which P(c ) is true.
– It can be represented as:
– Example:
• From the given sentence: ∃x Crown(x) ∧ OnHead(x, John),
– So we can infer: Crown(K) ∧ OnHead( K, John), as long as K does not appear in the knowledge base.
– The above used K is a constant symbol, which is called Skolem constant.
– The Existential instantiation is a special case of Skolemization process.
39
 …continued
• Existential introduction
– An existential introduction is also known as an existential generalization, which is a valid
inference rule in first-order logic.
– This rule states that if there is some element c in the universe of discourse which has a property
P, then we can infer that there exists something in the universe which has the property P.
– It can be represented as:
– Example: Let's say that, “John got good marks in English."
• "Therefore, someone got good marks in English."

40
Generalized Modus Ponens Rule:

• Modus ponens.
• Generalized Modus Ponens.

41