S. Amarel, On Representations of Problems on Reasoning about Actions. Machine Intelligence, 3, D. Mitchie (ed.), Edinburgh University Press, 1968.

Author of the summary: J. William Murdock, 1997, murdock@cc.gatech.edu

Cite this paper for:

• The representation of a system can dramatically affect the efficiency of problem solving within the system.

Keywords: Representation, Search

Systems: None

Summary: A variety of different representations for missionaries and
cannibals problem are explored in order to demonstrate the
relationship between representation language and the size of the
search space needed to solve a problem.  There is some detailed
discussion of the relationship between an informal natural language of
problems and the analysis leading to a representation language.

Point: The representation of a system can dramatically affect the
efficiency of problem solving within the system.

Summary author's notes:

• This summary came from a file which had the following disclaimer: "The following summaries are the completely unedited and often hastily composed interpretations of a single individual without any sort of systematic or considered review. As such it is very likely that at least some of the following text is incomplete, inadequate, misleading, or simply wrong. One might view this as a very preliminary draft of a survey paper that will probably never be completed. The author disclaims all responsibility for the accuracy or use of this document; this is not an official publication of the Georgia Institute of Technology or the College of Computing thereof, and the opinions expressed here may not even fully match the fully considered opinions of the author much less the general opinions of the aformentioned organizations."