Q1 - What is an expert system?

An expert system is a system built to perform at a human expert level for solving problems in a
narrow and specialized domain

Q2 - What are expert system main components?

Knowledge Base: contain the domain knowledge for problem solving as a set of rules.
Database: contain facts about the current situation to match against the rules in the knowledge base.
Inference Engine: apply the reasoning to reach a solution. It links the rules in the knowledge base
with the facts in the database.
Explanation Facilities: enable the user to ask the expert system how a particular conclusion is
reached and why a certain fact is needed.
User Interface: means of communication between a user seeking a solution to the problem and an
expert system.

Q3 - Compare between Forward Chaining and Backward chaining

Forward Chaining: the data-driven reasoning for gathering information and then inferring from it
whatever can be inferred.
Backward chaining: is the goal-driven reasoning. It starts with a goal (a hypothetical solution) and
the inference engine attempts to find the evidence to prove it.
Q4 - Compare between expert system & human expert
Human Experts Expert Systems

Process knowledge expressed in the form of rules

Use knowledge in the form of rules of thumb or and use symbolic reasoning to solve problems in
heuristics to solve problems in a narrow domain. a narrow domain.

In a human brain, knowledge exists in a compiled form. Provide a clear separation of knowledge from its
processing.

Capable of explaining a line of reasoning and providing Capable of explaining how a particular conclusion
the details. was reached and why specific data was needed.
Permit inexact reasoning and can deal with incomplete, Permit inexact reasoning and can deal with
uncertain and fuzzy information. incomplete, uncertain and fuzzy data.

Can make mistakes when information is incomplete or fuzzy. Can make mistakes when data is incomplete or fuzzy.

Enhance the quality of problem solving via years of learning Enhance the quality of problem solving by adding new
and practical training. This process is slow, inefficient and rules or adjusting old ones in the knowledge base.
expensive. When new knowledge is acquired, changes are easy
to accomplish.
Q5 - Discuss the major Sources of uncertain knowledge
Weak implications. Domain experts and knowledge engineers are responsible for establishing
solid relation between IF (condition) and THEN (action) parts of the rules. And if the relation is
vague, they need to express them using numerical certainty factors.
Imprecise language. Our natural language is uncertain and imprecise. We describe facts with
such terms as often and sometime and it difficult to express them in the precise IF-THEN form
of production rules. But, if the meaning of the facts is quantified, it can be used sin expert
systems.
Unknown data. When the data is incomplete or missing, the only solution is to accept the value
“unknown”.
Combining the views of different experts. Large expert systems usually combine the
knowledge of many experts. And they often have contradictory opinions and produce
conflicting rules. To resolve the conflict, the knowledge engineer has to attach a weight to each
expert and then calculate the composite conclusion.

Q6 - Calculate the certainty factor of the following:

IF sky is clear
THEN the forecast is sunny {cf 0.8}
and the current certainty factor of sky is clear is 0.5, then cf (H, E) = 0.5 x 0.8 = 0.4
Q7 – What is a fuzzy system?
a fuzzy expert system is an expert system that uses fuzzy logic instead of Boolean logic.

Q7 - Process of The Mamdani-style fuzzy inference:

• Fuzzification of the input variables
• Rule Evaluation
• Aggregation of the rule outputs
• Defuzzification
Q8 - Process of developing a fuzzy expert system
1. Specify the problem and define linguistic variables.
2. Determine fuzzy sets.
3. Elicit and construct fuzzy rules.
4. Encode the fuzzy sets, fuzzy rules, and procedures to perform fuzzy inference
into the expert system.
5. Evaluate and tune the system.