Unification theory

  • Authors:
  • Jörg H. Siekmann

  • Affiliations:
  • -

  • Venue:
  • Journal of Symbolic Computation
  • Year:
  • 1989

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Abstract

Most knowledge based systems in artificial intelligence (AI), with a commitment to asymbolic representation, support one basic operation: ''matching of descriptions''. This operation, called unification in work on deduction, is the ''addition-and-multiplication'' of AI-systems and is consequently often supported by special purpose hardware or by a fast instruction set on most AI-machines. Unification theory provides the formal framework for investigations into the properties of this operation. This article surveys what is presently known in unification theory and records its early history.