Teps : the Thought Experiment Approach to Qualitative Physic S

This paper discusses the application of the thought experiment methodology to qualitative reasoning . Problem solving using this technique involves simplification of the original problem, solution of the simplifie d problem, and generalization of the results obtained . Our emphasis in this work is to demonstrate th e effectiveness of this approach in addressing complexity and grain size issues that affect qualitative simulation. The thought experiment methodology is presented formally, the implementation of a problem solve r called TEPS is briefly discussed, and the methodology is compared with related techniques such as approximation, aggregation, and exaggeration .