Page 232 - DMGT505_MANAGEMENT_INFORMATION_SYSTEM

Unit 12: Intelligent Techniques

12.1 Expert System Notes

First of all we must understand that an expert system is nothing but a computer program or a set
of computer programs which contains the knowledge and some inference capability of an
expert, most generally a human expert, in a particular domain. As expert system is supposed to
contain the capability to lead to some conclusion based on the inputs provided, information it
already contains and its processing capability, an expert system belongs to the branch of Computer
Science called Artificial Intelligence.
Mere possessing an algorithm for solving a problem is not sufficient for a program to be termed
an expert system, it must also possess knowledge i.e., if there is an expert system for a particular
domain or area and if it is fed with a number of questions regarding that domain then sooner or
later we can expect that these questions will be answered. So we can say that the knowledge
contained by an expert system must contribute towards solving the problems for which it has
been designed.
Also knowledge in a expert system must be regarding a specific domain. As a human being
cannot be an expert in every area of life, similarly, an expert system which tries to simulate the
capabilities of an expert also works in a particular domain. Otherwise it may be require to
possess potentially infinite amount of knowledge and processing that knowledge in finite
amount of time is an impossible task.
Taking into consideration all the points which have been discussed above, let us try to give one
of the many possible definitions of an Expert System.
An Expert System is a computer program that possesses or represents knowledge in a particular
domain, has the capability of processing/manipulating or reasoning with this knowledge with
a view to solving a problem, giving some achieving or to achieve some specific goal.
An expert system may or may not provide the complete expertise or functionality of a human
expert but it must be able to assist a human expert in fast decision making. The program might
interact with a human expert or with a customer directly.

12.1.1 Expert System Definition

A model and associated procedure that exhibits, within a specific domain, a degree of expertise
in problem solving that is comparable to that of a human expert.
An expert system is a computer system which emulates the decision-making ability of a human
expert.
Simply put, an expert system contains knowledge derived from an expert in some narrow
domain. This knowledge is used to help individuals using the expert system to solve some
problem.

Notes The narrow domain is mentioned since it is quite difficult to encode enough
knowledge into a system so that it may solve a variety of problems. We have not reached
the point yet where this can be done.

The traditional definition of a computer program is usually:
algorithm + data structures = program
In an expert system, the definition changes to:
inference engine + knowledge = expert system

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