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A Horn clause contains at most one positive literal. A definite clause contains exactly one positive literal. Horn clauses can be used to represent implications in logic. SLD resolution is a method for determining if a set of Horn clauses entails a given goal clause by searching for a derivation through successive resolvents. Back-chaining and forward-chaining are two procedures for determining entailment of goals using a knowledge base of Horn clauses through attempting to solve subgoals.

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26 views

Slides 6

A Horn clause contains at most one positive literal. A definite clause contains exactly one positive literal. Horn clauses can be used to represent implications in logic. SLD resolution is a method for determining if a set of Horn clauses entails a given goal clause by searching for a derivation through successive resolvents. Back-chaining and forward-chaining are two procedures for determining entailment of goals using a knowledge base of Horn clauses through attempting to solve subgoals.

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kami_npcil
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© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Horn Clauses

A Horn clause is a clause containing at most one


positive literal.
A definite clause contains exactly one positive
literal.
Examples of a Horn Clause

[¬Child, ¬Mail, Boy]

Not a Horn Clause

[Rain, Sleet, Snow]

Knowledge Fusion Fall 2004 1


Horn Clauses (Cont)

p1 ∧ . . . ∧ pn → q

[¬p1 , . . . , ¬pn , q]

Positive Horn Clause


Negative Horn Clause

Knowledge Fusion Fall 2004 2


Some Observations

There is a derivation of a negative clause


(including the empty clause) from a set of
Horn clauses S iff there is one where each
new clause in the derivation is a negative
resolvent of the previous clause in the
derivation and some element of S.

Knowledge Fusion Fall 2004 3


SLD Resolution Pattern

c1

c2

c3

Knowledge Fusion Fall 2004 4


SLD Resolution

For any set S of clauses, an SLD


derivation of a clause c from S is a
sequence of clauses c1 , c2 , . . . , cn such
that cn = c, c1 ∈ S and ci+1 is a resolvent
of ci and some clause of S. We write
S SLD c if there is an SLD derivation
of c from S.

if S SLD [] then S  []

For Horn clauses:

if S SLD [] iff S  []

Knowledge Fusion Fall 2004 5


Example

Toddler

Toddler → Child

(Child ∧ Male) → Boy

Infant → Child
(Child ∧ Female) → Girl
Female

Query

KB |= Girl

Knowledge Fusion Fall 2004 6


Another Example: Lists

Constant nil Binary Function cons, e.g.,


cons(t1 , t2 )
Definition of Append(x,y,z)
Append(nil, y, y)
Append(x, y, z) →
Append(cons(w, x), y, cons(w, z))
We wish to show that this entails the following:

Append(cons(a, cons(b, nil)), cons(c, nil), cons(a, cons(b, cons(c, nil))))

Knowledge Fusion Fall 2004 7


Back-Chaining procedure

Input: a finite list of atomic sentences, q1 , . . . , qn


Output: yes or no depending on whether a
given KB entails all of the qi
SOLVE[q1 , . . . , qn ] =
If n = 0 then return yes
For each clause c ∈ KB, do
If c = [q1 , ¬p1 , . . . , ¬pm ] and
SOLV E[p1 , . . . , pm , q2 , . . . , qn ]
then return yes
end for
Return no

Knowledge Fusion Fall 2004 8


Forward-Chaining procedure

Input: a finite list of atomic sentences, q1 , . . . , qn


Output: yes or no depending on whether a
given KB entails all of the qi
1. if all of the goals qi are marked as solved,
then return yes
2. check if there is a clause [q1 , ¬p1 , . . . , ¬pn ] in
the KB, such that all of its negative atoms
¬p1 , . . . , ¬pn are marked as solved, and such
that the positive atom p is not marked as
solved
3. if there is such a clause, mark p as solved and
go to step 1
4. otherwise, return no

Knowledge Fusion Fall 2004 9

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