SHORT REPORT ON

EXPERT SYSTEMS
 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The whole research report aims at defining what exactly an expert system is. The report
defines an expert system according to Wikipedia and generally. It further discusses the
building blocks like knowledge domain, logic, knowledge representation and key
knowledge an expert system. It describes what characteristics an expert system must
possess in order to be efficient. It also reflects a relationship between an expert system
and artificial intelligence. The report explains briefly the languages and tools that an
expert system uses or (must use). It gives a snapshot of the benefits of using an expert
system and area of application.

INTRODUCTION
With the advancement of technology, expert systems have evolved. Since their
production & development in 1980’s, expert systems have become popular to a great
extent.
They aim solving a particular problem with the way a human expert could have solved.
The way human expert uses his knowledge for solving some problem, an expert system
soles the problem on the basis of some key base knowledge, range of the knowledge,
logic and inferences. In case of a human expert, knowledge base is mostly factual,
whereas, in case of an expert system, knowledge is logical. Today, expert systems are
frequently used in many fields of life like business, science, engineering, manufacturing
and medical. An example of a medical expert system, which uses two or more data items
to generate effective results, was MYCIN, which aimed at diagnosis and remedy of
bacterial diseases.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
 PAGE
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
INTRODUCTION

I.1 WHAT IS AN EXPERT SYSTEM 1

I.2 ABILITIES OF EXPERT 2

SYSTEMS

I.3 COMPONENTS OF EXPERT 2

SYSTEMS

I.3.1 A knowledge base 2

I.3.2 The reasoning 2
I.3.3 Knowledge representation 3
I.3.4 Knowledge domain 3

I.4 ATTRIBUTES OF EXPERT 4

SYSTEM

I.4.1 High performance 4

I.4.2 Response time 4
I.4.3 Reliable 4
I.4.4 Understandable 4
I.4.5 Flexible 4

I.5 LANGUAGES AND TOOLS 5

I.6 ADVANTAGES OF EXPERT 5
SYSTEMS

I.6.1 Increased availability 5

I.6.2 Reduced cost 5
I.6.3 Reduced danger 5
I.6.4 Increased reliability 5
I.6.5 Fast response 5
I.6.6 Static, non sentimental response 5
I.6.7 Intelligent database 5

I.7 DISADVANTAGES OF AN 5
EXPERT SYSTEM

I.8 EXAMPLES OF SOME EXPERT 6

SYSTEMS IN VARIOUS FIELDS
 OF LIFE
CONCLUSIONS
REFERENCES
I.1 WHAT IS AN EXPERT SYSTEM

“An expert system is a class of computer programs developed by researchers in artificial

intelligence during the 1970s and applied commercially throughout the 1980s. In essence,
they are programs made up of a set of rules that analyze information (usually supplied by
the user of the system) about a specific class of problems, as well as provide analysis of
the problem(s), and, depending upon their design, recommend a course of user action in
order to implement corrections.”

In general, it can be said an expert system is computer program derived from a branch of
computer science research called Artificial Intelligence. AI's scientific goal is to
understand intelligence by building computer programs that show intelligent behavior.
An ES is a branch of AI that uses some knowledge to solve a problem at the level of a
human expert. The figure demonstrates the relation between an expert system and
Artificial Intelligence.

Artificial Intelligence

Vision
Natural Languages

Robotics

Understanding

Speech

Expert Systems
Artificial Neural

Figure 1
I.2 ABILITIES OF EXPERT SYSTEMS

Intelligence is a very broad term used in the context of an expert system Intelligence
means:

 ability to solve a problem

 learn a language
 and understand the language
 based on logic & reason

Expert systems perform efficiently & effectively when more & more knowledge s given
to them. Expert system aim providing a fast, rapid and highly efficient solution to people
involved in decision making and development. These can help out manager and
supervisors in solving a specific problem.
An expert system is typically developed on some knowledge. It has applications in
military, medical, agriculture, plant processing and business as well.

I.3 COMPONENTS OF AN EXPERT SYSTEM

Every ES consists of the following parts:

I.3.1 A KNOWLEDGE BASE

The knowledge base part of an expert system consists of factual knowledge. It is that
knowledge which is found in journals and text books. An ES is sometimes called a
knowledge based system. The knowledge base an expert uses is what he learned at
school, from colleagues, and from years of experience. Presumably the more
experience he has, the larger his store of knowledge. Knowledge allows him to
interpret the information in his databases to advantage in diagnosis, design, and
analysis.

I.3.2 THE REASONING

The reasoning part of an expert system consists of what logic is presented to solve a
Particular problem. Knowledge can also be represented by symbols of logic. An
important part of logic is to draw inferences (conclusions) from arguments. For
example, consider the following:

Statement 1 says” All students are dumb”.

Statement 2 says “I am a student”.
Conclusion would be “I am dumb”.

Describes a typical logical relationship and result concluded.

A Venn diagram simplifies the following logical relationship:
 Dumb People

Student

I, myself

Figure 2

I.3.3 KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATION

Knowledge representation refers to the way the data (knowledge) to solve a problem
is presented. A rule consists of an IF part and a THEN part (also called a condition
and an action). The IF part lists a set of conditions in some logical combination. For
example,

IF (marks are greater than 80)

Then (assign grade A)
Is an example where marks are greater is a condition, if it is satisfied, then assign
GRADE A

I.3.4 KNOWLEDGE DOMAIN

The knowledge domain is the knowledge of the expert to solve a problem. For
example, a medical expert system designed to diagnose diseases will have knowledge
about diseases and their symptoms. Expert systems aim to solve 1 problem. They have 1
domain. They do not solve multiple specific problems. For instance, an agriculture expert
system would only be solving problems related to agriculture. The development of an ES
is knowledge engineering and its practitioners are called knowledge engineers.

The figure below shows the components of an ES:

 Knowledge base knowledge domain

ES

Reasoning Knowledge
representation

Figure 3

I.4 ATTRIBUTES OF EXPERT SYSTEM

I.4.1 HIGH PERFORMANCE

An Es must be a high performance system in order to solve the problems.

I.4.2 RESPONSE TIME

The ES should take a reasonable time in solving the problem, as it is taken by a human
expert.

I.4.3 RELIABLE

An ES must be able to produce reliable results. It should not prone to crashes.

I.4.4 UNDERSTANDABLE

An ES must be user friendly and understandable by its users.

I.4.5 FLEXIBLE

An ES should be flexible enough to update, delete and modify the data as to user
requirements.
I.5 LANGUAGES & TOOLS

Obviously, the language that an ES uses is a very high level one. It might be using non
procedural languages like LISP, PROLOG, SMALL TALK, or ANS. An ES uses the data
abstraction and knowledge abstraction pattern to be developed. Data abstraction is to
separate the data from its functions. Tools mean that a language plus some utility
program to develop the ES. Utility programs may include text, graphics, and debuggers
and file management. Tools provide some extra functionality with the language.

I.6 ADVANTAGES OF EXPERT SYSTEMS

I.6.1 Increased availability

An expert system, if is available anytime, can be very helpful.

I.6.2 Reduced cost

The cost of providing expertise to every user is reduced.

I.6.3 Reduced danger

These can be used in environments where human beings’ working is hazardous.

I.6.4 Increased reliability

The ES should always agree with the human expert. This should ensure that the correct
decisions are made.

I.6.5 Fast response

Some applications or problems can not wait for a human expert. They require a fast
response. An ES is faster than a human being and gives a better response.

I.6.6 Static, non-sentimental response

Human beings, while solving a problem or making a decision, might become emotional
and act negatively. When a human expert is not able to respond due to fatigue, an ES is
there.

I.6.7 Intelligent data base

Expert systems can be used to access a database in an intelligent manner.

I.7 DISADVANTAGES OF AN EXPERT SYSTEM

An expert system is a highly efficient program in terms of performance, but the factor
increases its complexity as well. The problems errors encountered by an expert system
are not easily to solve. Expert systems use a knowledge base and algorithms; these errors
may be due to wrong logic, human, unknown and many more. The problem solver needs
to have knowledge of that as well.
I.8 EXAMPLES OF SOME EXPERT SYSTEMS IN VARIOUS
FIELDS OF LIFE

EXPERT SYSTEMS USES

NAME OF EXPERT SYSTEM APPLICATION AREA
ACE Diagnose telephone network faults
EURISKO Design 3-D microelectronics
PUFF Diagnose lung disease
VM Monitor intensive care patients
MYCIN Diagnose bacterial infections
NDS Diagnose national communication set
SOPHIE Instruct circuit fault diagnosis
CADHELP Instruct for computer aided design
ATTENDING Instruct in management

Table 1

BIBLIOGRAPHY & REFERENCES

Giarratano & Riley “Expert systems: Principles and Programming”, 13th edition, PWS
Publication Company, Boston.

www.google.com
www.computer.privateweb.at
en.wikipedia.org
www.yahoo.com