UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS: 2013/2014
ORDINARY EXAMINATION FOR THE BACHELOR OF SCIENCE
IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
BIT 4405 EXPERT SYSTEMS
DATE: APRIL, 2014 TIME: 2 HOURS
INSTRUCTIONS: Answer Question ONE and any other TWO
QUESTION ONE
a) Explain the following concepts
i) Expert system (2 Marks)
ii) Artificial intelligence (2 Marks)
iii) Turing test (2 Marks)
iv) Knowledge-based systems (2 Marks)
b) Explain the features of an expert system (8 Marks)
c) Discuss how expert systems are used in various areas (8 Marks)
d) Explain the benefits of using expert systems (6 Marks)
QUESTION TWO
a) Explain the benefits of using rules (6 Marks)
b) Elaborate on the initial idea of production system as given by Post (4 Marks)
c) Explain the operating principle of the inference engine (6 Marks)
d) Given the following rules:
R1:If corn is grown on poor soil, then it will rot.
R2:If soil hasn’t enough nitrogen, then it is poor soil
Explain how you the rules will be applied in forward chaining and backward
chaining (4 Marks)
QUESTION THREE
a) Discuss the need for heuristic reasoning in knowledge based systems (6 Marks)
b) The function of a financial advisor is to help the user decide whether to invest in a
savings account, or the stock market, or both. The recommended investment
depends on the investor’s income and the current amount they have saved:
Individuals with inadequate savings should always increase the amount saved as
their first priority, regardless of income.
Individuals with adequate savings and an adequate income should consider riskier
but potentially more profitable investment in the stock market.
Individuals with low income who already have adequate savings may want to
consider splitting their surplus income between savings and stocks, to increase the
cushion in savings while attempting to increase their income through stocks
The adequacy of both savings and income is determined by the number of
dependants an individual must support.There must be at least £3000 in the bank
for each dependant. An adequate income is a steady income, and it must supply at
least £9000 per year, plus 2500 dependant for each dependant
Required;
Produce an AND-OR graph for the provided information (14 Marks)
QUESTION FOUR
a) Describe the three theories of probability as used in expert systems (12 Marks)
b) Discuss the concept of certainty factor as used to measure belief and disbelief
(8 Marks)
QUESTION FIVE
Describe how the following techniques are used is used in expert systems
a) propositional logic (5 Marks)
b) Semantic Networks (5 Marks)
c) Schemata (5 Marks)
d) Frame (5 Marks)
