Prolegomena to Any Future Qualitative Physics (1992)
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BibTeX
@MISC{Sacks92prolegomenato,
author = {Elisha P. Sacks and Jon Doyle},
title = {Prolegomena to Any Future Qualitative Physics},
year = {1992}
}
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Abstract
We evaluate the success of the qualitative physics enterprise in automating expert reasoning about physical systems. The field has agreed, in essentials, upon a modeling language for dynamical systems, a representation for behavior, and an analysis method. The modeling language consists of generalized ordinary differential equations containing unspecified constants and monotonic functions; the behavioral representation decomposes the state space described by the equations into discrete cells; and the analysis method traces the transitory response using sign arithmetic and calculus. The field has developed several reasoners based on these choices over some fifteen years. We demonstrate that these reasoners exhibit severe limitations in comparison with experts and can analyze only a handful of simple systems. We trace the limitations to inappropriate assumptions about expert needs and methods. Experts ordinarily seek to determine asymptotic behavior rather than transient response, and us...
Keyphrases
future qualitative physic modeling language analysis method state space monotonic function dynamical system generalized ordinary differential equation expert need behavioral representation transient response discrete cell simple system fifteen year transitory response asymptotic behavior qualitative physic unspecified constant severe limitation several reasoner physical system
