An `AI in Design' View of Design
Methodology

Qualitative Reasoning

Does the system use qualitative reasoning methods?

e.g., temporal reasoning, spatial reasoning, reasoning about physical phenomena, etc.

Discussion. Qualitative reasoning allows us to reason about the physical world, without using precise numerical methods [Joskowicz 1988] [Joskowicz 1992] [Keller et al. 1992] [Sycara & Navinchandra 1992] [Williams 1992]. Temporal reasoning models chronological operations and dependencies. Spatial reasoning models relationships between objects in physical space. These types of reasoning are used to infer qualitative conclusions about regions of the physical universe: precedence in time, closeness in space, causality in physics, etc. Each type of reasoning usually relies on a specific set of primitives and methods of reasoning, which then allow the system to handle entities such as time and space.

Up : Next

/Papers/IJDC/sect5.9.html  			Wed May 28 14:46:09 EDT 1997