COS351D/103/2007

School of Computing

Techniques of Artificial Intelligence

COS351D

TUTORIAL LETTER 103/2007

Examination Guidelines
2007
 COS351D/103/2007

Outline of syllabus

Chapter 1
Read as background.

Chapter 2
Familiarise yourself with the concepts and terminology.

Chapter 3
Study everything. You have to understand all the algorithms and be able to apply them to a given
problem statement. You do not need to memorise any pseudo-code.

Chapter 4
Study everything except the following sections, which you can omit entirely:
- Memory-bounded heuristic search, pp. 101 – 104.
- 4.4 Local Search in Continuous Spaces, pp. 119 – 129.
You have to understand all the algorithms and be able to apply them to a given problem statement.
You do not need to memorise any pseudo-code.

Chapter 5
Study everything except the following section, which you can omit entirely:
- 5.4 The Structure of Problems, pp. 151 – 155.
You have to understand all the algorithms and be able to apply them to a given problem statement.
You do not need to memorise any pseudo-code.

Chapter 6
Study sections 6.1, 6.2 and 6.3. You have to understand the minimax and alpha-beta algorithms, and
be able to apply them to a given problem statement.
Read sections 6.4, 6.5, 6.6, 6.7 and 6.8. You have to understand the concepts covered in these
sections, but you do not need to be familiar with any particular game such as backgammon, chess or
any card game.

Chapter 7
Study everything except the following section, which you can omit entirely:
- 7.7 Agents based on propositional logic, pp. 225 – 232.
Many of the concepts introduced in this chapter should already be familiar to you from COS261.
However, there are some important algorithms in this chapter that you will probably not be familiar
with. In particular, you have to understand and be able to apply forward and backward chaining,
resolution, and the DPLL and WALKSAT algorithms.

Chapter 8
Most of the concepts introduced in this chapter should also already be familiar to you. Read the
chapter to refresh your memory. Make sure that you can translate English language sentences and
paragraphs into first-order logic.

Chapter 9
You have to be able to convert an English language paragraph into first-order logic, convert this into
conjunctive normal form, and use resolution to show that a given conclusion follows from the
premises. In order to apply the resolution algorithm, you will need to understand the unification of
terms. You can omit the following sections:
- 9.3 Forward chaining, pp. 280 – 287;
- 9.4 Backward chaining, pp. 287 – 295.
You can also omit everything from p. 300 Completeness of resolution to the end of the chapter.

Chapter 18
Understand the forms of learning and the concepts of inductive learning. You have to be able to
construct a decision tree and reason with the contents thereof. The theory of decision trees is also
important. You can omit the following sections:
- 18.4 Ensemble Learning, pp. 664 – 668;
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- 18.5 Why Learning Works, pp. 668 – 673.

Chapter 20
Sections 20.1 to 20.4 serve as background to much of the rest of the chapter. Read and understand
the concepts as far as it pertains to sections 20.5 onwards. Section 20.5 forms the core of the work
that you need to understand fully. You will have to be able to construct a simple neural network and
train it using a given training set. You have to understand the limitations of the various models of
neural networks. You can omit the following sections:
- 20.6 Kernel machines, pp. 749 – 752;
- 20.7 Case Study, pp. 752 – 754.

Example Examination Paper

The example questions that follow should give you some indication of what you can expect in the
examination. Please note that these are merely a selection of example questions. The work covered
in the example questions is not more important than the rest of the syllabus. We do not have a
memorandum for these questions, but you are welcome to contact us if you need advice on how to
approach any of the questions. Good luck with your studies!

Question 1 [20]

The Boolean function f 1 = x1 ∨ x 2 x3 in three variables is linearly separable and can therefore be
implemented in a single-unit neural network that uses a threshold activation function.

1.1 What does the statement above mean in terms of the space of the input (2)
vectors of the neural network?

1.2 Give the desired output of the neural network for each of the following input (2)
vectors, using the function f 1 given above:
0 1 0
1 0 0
0 0 1
1 1 1

1.3 The weight change rule for the fixed increment error correction procedure is (3)
given by:
Wi +1 = Wi + c(d i − f i ) X i

Define all the variables used in this rule.

1.4 Train the neural network to implement the Boolean function f 1 given above. (10)
Use the perceptron learning procedure with the training set given in 1.2. Set
the initial weights to 0.0, the initial threshold to 0.0 and a constant learning rate
of 1.0.

1.5 Draw a diagram of neural network showing the final weights and threshold (3)
value.

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Question 2 [8]

The table below shows a set of data that has been collected to determine which factors affect
sunburn.

No Hair Height Weight Lotion Result

1 sunburned
blonde average light no (positive)
2 blonde tall average yes none (negative)
3 brown short average yes none
4 blonde short average no sunburned
5 red average heavy no sunburned
6 brown tall heavy no none
7 brown average heavy no None
8 blonde short light yes None

2.1 Construct a decision tree using the data above that will succinctly decide the (6)
factors influencing sunburn in the eight people for whom we have data.

2.2 Can a decision tree be used to represent the parity and majority functions. (2)
Why or why not?

Question 3 [10]

Three travelling companions, Tom, Dick and Harry, want to cross a river. There is only one rowboat
available and it can carry at most two passengers. The boat needs at least one passenger to row it.
Tom and Dick hate each other and cannot be left alone without getting into a fight. Harry has to be
present with Tom, or Dick, or both at any time. You have to find a way to get all three across the river
without Tom and Dick getting into a fight.

3.1 Describe a suitable state representation and draw the entire state description (8)
graph of Tom, Dick and Harry’s problem. You only need to show legal states.

3.2 Indicate the order in which the nodes of your state description graph will be (2)
visited, using a breadth-first search.

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Question 4 [10]

In the Francs and Pounds puzzle there is a case with five cells. In the initial state of the case the two
leftmost cells are occupied by a Franc coin each, while two Pound coins occupy the two rightmost
cells. The middle cell is empty. It can be illustrated as follows:

F F P P

The puzzle involves moving the coins one at a time to reach the goal state. In the goal state the
Pound and Franc coins are interchanged, as follows:

P P F F

There are only four permissible moves:

1) A Pound Slide – a Pound coin slides one position to the left into an empty cell.
2) A Pound Hop – a Pound coin jumps left across one cell containing a coin into an empty cell.
3) A Franc Slide – a Franc coin slides one position to the right into an empty cell.
4) A Franc Hop – a Franc coin jumps right across one cell containing a coin into an empty cell.

A cell may never contain more than one coin and all coins must be in the case after every move.

Consider the following partial search graph (only legal states are shown):

F F P P

2 3 4 5

F F P P F F P P F F P P F F P P

6 7 8 9

F F P P F P F P F P F P F F P P

10 11 12 13

F P F P F P F P F P F P F P F P

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4.1 (8)
Let the heuristic function hˆ( n) be the number of coins not in their desired
position in the state represented by the node n . For example, in the initial state
(1) above, all four coins are in incorrect positions, and therefore hˆ(1) = 4 . Let
g (n) be the depth of node n .

Perform the first number of steps of the A* search to find a solution path from
the first node (1) to a goal state. Stop when a node of depth 4 has been
selected for expansion. Do not add any nodes to the graph shown above.

Indicate the order in which the nodes are expanded, showing the OPEN queue
after each step, as well as the g , ĥ and fˆ values of every expanding node.
Use the node numbers provided in the diagram.

4.2 When is a heuristic search admissible? Why is an admissible heuristic (2)

required for an A* search?

Question 5 [12]

Consider the Game tree below. The numbers at the leaf nodes indicate static scores.

C
B

D E F G

H I J K L M N O P

0 1 2 1 0 -3 -5 0 2

Use the alpha-beta procedure to determine which moves the first player should choose to maximise
his score. Assume that nodes are examined from left to right. In your answer you have to show the
order in which nodes are examined, the backup value of each node, and also which nodes need not
be examined. You also have to indicate whether each cut is an alpha cut or a beta cut.

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Question 6 [8]

6.1 Prove by resolution refutation that r is a logical consequence of the (5)

set {¬q ∨ r , ¬p ∨ q, p} .

6.2 What does it mean to say that a resolution strategy is refutation complete? (3)

Question 7 [12]

7.1 State the Propositional Satisfiability problem. (2)

7.2 In the Four-Queens Problem we attempt to place four queens on a 4x4 (4)
chessboard so that none of them can capture the other. This means that only
one queen can be in any row, column, or diagonal of the board. We can say
that a position is safe if a queen that is already on the board cannot capture a
queen that is placed at this position.

The start state is an empty 4x4 chessboard. The goal state is the same 4x4
board with four queens that are all legally placed. Let qij represent the square
at row i and column j of the board. Let qij = true if there is a queen on
square (i, j ) , else let qij = false .

Give a propositional statement, which states: “If a queen is placed in row 1,

column 1, then she is safe.”

7.3 Explain how your answer in 7.2 can be used to obtain a statement that (3)
indicates whether or not all four placed queens are safe.

7.4 Explain why the propositional satisfiability problem can be viewed as a (3)
constraint satisfaction problem.

Question 8 [20]

8.1 Translate the following statements into predicate calculus: (7)

a) James is a pickpocket.
b) All pickpockets either pick pockets or watch movies.
c) If pickpockets need money, they cannot afford to watch movies.
d) If pickpockets are in prison, they cannot pick pockets.

8.2 Convert each predicate sentence given in your answer in 8.1 above, to clause (7)
form.

8.3 Use resolution to determine what James does when he needs money. (6)