Using Active Connection Graphs for Reasoning with Recursive Rules

Raouralva r u l e s , such as "Your paren ts ' ancestors are your ances tors" , a l though vary uaafu l f o r theorem p rov ing , na tu ra l languaga understanding, quest ion-answering and In fo rmat ion r e t r i e v a l systems, present problems f o r many such systems, e i t h e r causing i n f i n i t e loopa o r r e q u i r i n g tha t a r b i t r a r i l y many copies of them be made. SNIP, the SNaPS Inference Package, oan use reoura lva r u l a s w i thout e i t h e r o f these problems. A raoura lva r u l e oauaaa a cycle to ba b u i l t in an Active connection graph* Each pass of data through the cyc le r e s u l t s in another answer. Cyc l ing stops as soon as e i t h e r the desi red answer is produoed, no more answers oan be produoed or resource bounds are exceeded.