Classes of Answers

Debra Burhans, Ph.D.(Candidate)
Department of Computer Science and Engineering,
State University of New York at Buffalo
CS Faculty Candidate

March 13, 2001
11 a.m.
Fuller Laboratories (FL 311)

Abstract

Theorem provers were employed as question answering systems starting in the late 1960s. At that time answers were associated with the presence of a proof. Later work on intensional (generic) answers and conditional answers expanded upon the traditional definition of answer. I will discuss an expanded notion of answer in the context of resolution theorem provers. This leads to an interpretation of the resolvants produced at each reasoning step as answers. A complete characterization of resolvants in a resolution theorem prover is proposed that partions resolvants into three answer classes: specific, generic, and hypothetical. In addition to expanding the notion of answer, the proposed formalism provides a framework for understanding previous work in question answering and abduction. The proposed answer classes not only partition the space of possible answers, they naturally correspond to different types of answers that people provide when answering questions.

Host

Professor Micha Hofri

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Last modified: Sep 27, 2006, 16:05 EDT