UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS: 2016/2017
EXAMINATION FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF BUSINESS IN
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
BIT4405 EXPERT SYSTEMS
DISTANCE LEARNING
DATE: AUGUST, 2017 TIME: 2 HOURS
INSTRUCTIONS: Answer Question One & ANY OTHER TWO questions.
QUESTION ONE
a) Explain the term inferencing as used in expert systems (3 Marks)
b) It is said that powerful computers, inference capabilities, and problem-solving heuristics
are necessary but not sufficient for solving real problems. Why? (4 Marks)
c) Distinguish between forward chaining and backward chaining (4 Marks)
d) Define an Expert system (2 Marks)
e) List the major components of an expert system (10 Marks)
f) Describe the motivation for developing expert systems (4 Marks)
g) What is the purpose of conducting a Turing test (3 Marks)
QUESTION TWO
a) What are the major difficulties in developing Expert systems? (4 Marks)
b) Define the ES development environment and contrast it with the consultation
environment. (4 Marks)
c) Identify the generic categories of expert systems applications (12 Marks)
QUESTION THREE
a) Describe the major limitations of expert systems (12 Marks)
b) List FOUR types of knowledge that constitute expertise. (4 Marks)
c) Distinguish between Expert systems and Decision support systems (4 Marks)
QUESTION FOUR
a) Why is it easier to correct mistakes in ES than inconventional programs? (2 Marks)
b) Given the current status of the Web, discuss how it is changing the availability of ES and
how it is being used to embed expertise in other systems. (10 Marks)
c) Why is speech recognition and understanding useful? (4 Marks)
d) What kind of mistakes might ES make and why? (4 Marks)
QUESTION FIVE
a) Explain the role of a knowledge engineer (4 Marks)
b) What are the major activities performed in the ES blackboard (workplace)?(3 Marks)
c) Explain the role of the expert systems and their potential benefits. (8 Marks)
d) List FIVE major Artificial Intelligence Technologies (5 Marks)
