NON-MONOTONIC

REASONING
DEFAULT REASONING
Monotonic Reasoning
Conclusion will remain the same even if we add some
information.

Decision are not affected by new facts, not suitable for

real time system.

Example:
1) Earth revolves around sun
2) Earth is not Round---new information
Monotonic Reasoning
• All old proofs are valid
• Can’t use for real world problem
• New knowledge from real world can’t be
added
Non Monotonic Reasoning

• Conclusion may be invalidated if we add some more information

to our knowledge base.
•Helpful in real world scenario.
Example:
• Facts:
• Birds can fly.
• Penguins can’t fly.
• Alex is bird
• Conclusion: Alex can Fly
Non Monotonic Reasoning

Example:
• Facts:
• Birds can fly.
• Penguins can’t fly.
• Alex is bird.
• Alex is a penguin.
• Conclusion: Alex can’t Fly
• Disadvantages: can’t used for theorem
proving
• Example: Robot Navigation
Non Monotonic Reasoning

Example:
• Penguin cannot fly
• Birds has wings
• Birds can fly
• Penguin is a bird
• Conclusion: Penguin can fly
MONOTONIC V/S NONMONOTONIC REASONING
• Nonmonotonic Reasoning – key issues:
1. How can the knowledge base be extended
to allow inferences to be made on the
basis of lack of knowledge as well as on
the presence of it?
we need to make clear
distinction between:
• It is known that ¬P.
• It is not known whether P.
MONOTONIC V/S NONMONOTONIC REASONING
• Nonmonotonic Reasoning – key issues:
2. How can the knowledge base be updated
properly when a new fact is added to the
system ?
Since, addition of a fact can cause previously
discovered proofs to become invalid.
The solution is to keep track of proofs.
MONOTONIC V/S NONMONOTONIC REASONING
• Nonmonotonic Reasoning – key issues:
3. How can knowledge be used to help
resolve conflicts when there are several
inconsistent Nonmonotonic inferences
that can be drawn?
LOGICS FOR NONMONOTONIC REASONING
• Default Reasoning:
1. Nonmonotonic Logic
2. Default Logic
 LOGICS FOR NONMONOTONIC REASONING
• Default logic can express facts like “by default, something is true”; by
contrast, standard logic can only express that something is true or that
something is false. This is a problem because reasoning often involves
facts that are true in the majority of cases but not always.
• example is:
• “birds typically fly”. This rule can be expressed in standard logic either
by “all birds fly”, which is inconsistent with the fact that penguins do
not fly, or by “all birds that are not penguins and not ostriches and ...
fly”, which requires all exceptions to the rule to be specified.
• Default logic aims at formalizing inference rules like this one without
explicitly mentioning all their exceptions.
Default Logic
What is Default Reasoning?
• Question: How many wheels of Johan’s car have?
• Answer: 4

• The conclusion is withdrawn if one supplied with the information that

one wheel of John’s car has just been stolen

Non monotonicity
LOGICS FOR NONMONOTONIC REASONING
1. Nonmonotonic Logic:
• For example,
x, y: Related(x,y) ᴧ M GetAlong(x,y) →
WillDefend(x,y)
• Read as,
“For all x and y,
if x and y are related and
if the fact that x gets along with y is consistent
with everything else that is believed,
then conclude that x will defend y”
• M = Modal operator, read as “is consistent”
LOGICS FOR NONMONOTONIC REASONING
2. Default Logic:
• For example,

• Read as “If A is provable and it is consistent to

assume B then conclude C”.
Default Reasoning

• It is very common form of non monotonic reasoning

• Conclusion are drone based on what is mostly likely to be true.
 Approaches of Default Reasoning

1) Non Monotonic Logic

2) Default Logic
 Approaches of Default Reasoning

1) Non Monotonic Logic:

▪ Truth of proposition may change when new information are added and
logic may be built to allow the statement to be retracted
▪ Use Model Operator M
▪M is used for to allow consistency
Example:

?x:plays_instrument(x) AND M
Manages(x) ->johns_musician(x)

Note:If x plays instrument and consistently manage x then x is johns

musician.
Approaches of Default Reasoning

2) Default Logic:

• Initiates a new inference rule

• A- Pre requisite
• B- Justification
• C- consequent
Approaches of Default Reasoning

2) Default Logic:
Note : If A and if its consistent with the rest of what is known to
assume that B, then conclude that C
Default Logic
Thank you
References
:
• https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/difference-between-proced
ural-and-declarative-knowledge/
Non-Monotonic Reasoning
Examples
• An engineer discovers that a sub-system he has
designed does not agree with another sub-system
designed earlier in the process. The earlier sub-system,
obviously, has to be modified/re-designed.
Non-Monotonic Reasoning
Examples
In any design situation, the designer has to start with a
certain set of assumptions. These assumption may lead to
an unsatisfactory design when another iteration of the
design process begins with a new set of assumptions. This
continues until a satisfactory design is achieved.
Non-Monotonic Reasoning
Examples
Consider the following situation

I go to somebodys house with a bunch of flowers

presuming that flowers are liked by most people.

As soon as I enter the door, he starts eneezing heavily and

I am forced to leaved the flowers outside.
Solutions to Non-monotonic
situations
Dependency-directed backtracking
(contrast with simple chronological backtracking)
Truth-maintenance systems
Assumption-based truth maintenance systems