Qualitative methods for reasoning under uncertainty / Simon Parsons.
2001
Q339.25 .P37 2001eb
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Details
Title
Qualitative methods for reasoning under uncertainty / Simon Parsons.
Author
Parsons, Simon.
ISBN
9780262256773 (electronic bk.)
0262256770 (electronic bk.)
9780262161688
0262161680 (Trade Cloth)
0262528746
9780262528740
0585490228
9780585490229
0262256770 (electronic bk.)
9780262161688
0262161680 (Trade Cloth)
0262528746
9780262528740
0585490228
9780585490229
Publication Details
Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, ©2001.
Copyright
©2001
Language
English
Description
1 online resource (xviii, 506 pages) : illustrations.
Call Number
Q339.25 .P37 2001eb
Dewey Decimal Classification
006.3/3
Summary
In this book Simon Parsons describes qualitative methods for reasoning under uncertainty, "uncertainty" being a catch-all term for various types of imperfect information. The advantage of qualitative methods is that they do not require precise numerical information. Instead, they work with abstractions such as interval values and information about how values change. The author does not invent completely new methods for reasoning under uncertainty but provides the means to create qualitative versions of existing methods. To illustrate this, he develops qualitative versions of probability theory, possibility theory, and the Dempster-Shafer theory of evidence. According to Parsons, these theories are best considered complementary rather than exclusive. Thus the book supports the contention that rather than search for the one best method to handle all imperfect information, one should use whichever method best fits the problem. This approach leads naturally to the use of several different methods in the solution of a single problem and to the complexity of integrating the results--a problem to which qualitative methods provide a solution.
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