Learning via queries

  • Authors:
  • William I. Gasarch;Carl H. Smith

  • Affiliations:
  • -;-

  • Venue:
  • Journal of the ACM (JACM)
  • Year:
  • 1992

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Abstract

Traditional work in inductive inference has been to model a learner receiving data about a function f and trying to learn the function. The data is usually just the values f(0), f(1),…. The scenario is modeled so that the learner is also allowed to ask questions about the data (e.g., ( ∀ &khgr;) [&khgr; 17 → f(&khgr;) = 0]?). An important parameter is the language that the lerner may use to formulate queries. We show that for most languages a learner can learn more by asking questions than by passively receiving data. Mathematical tools used include the solution to Hilbert's tenth problem, the decidability of Presuburger arithmetic, and &ohgr;-automata.