J. de Kleer, How Circuits Work. Artificial Intelligence, 24, 1984.

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

Cite this paper for:

• The function of a system such as an electrical circuit can be derived from its structure through purely qualitative analysis.

Keywords: Qualitative Physics, Behavior, Simulation, Design

Systems: EQUAL, SYN

Summary: Introduces qualitative physics (from earlier papers), the
study of how physical systems operate in a more abstract sense then is
modeled by popular numerical approaches.  Discusses a program, EQUAL,
which does a "causal analysis" to determine the output (or potential
outputs) of a circuit based on a qualitative description of its
structure.  Describes the "no-function-in-structure" principle that
requires that the descriptions of components and connections be done
in a device independent manner.  Illustrates the concepts of the
theory by demonstrating its representation and processing of various
specific laws of the electrical circuit domain.  Argues for imposing
sequential, causal interpretations onto circuits.  Presents some
detailed examples.  Describes how the assumption that circuits were
rationally designed helps to resolve ambiguities.  Discusses a variety
of ontological issues such as operating regions and time.  Describes
SYN, a constraint propagation circuit analysis program.  Asserts that a
program like EQUAL which provides a general qualitative analysis which
could assist a program like SYN in setting up appropriate equations to
solve constraint propagation problems more tractably.  Finally
discusses the role of qualitative analysis in troubleshooting and
instruction.

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."