Describing problem solving methods using anytime performance profiles
Annette ten Teije, Frank van Harmelen · Digital Academic REpository of VU University Amsterdam (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) · 2000
. We propose the use of anytime performance profiles to describe the computational behaviour of problem solving methods. A performance profile describes how the quality of the output of an algorithm gradually increases as a function of the computation time. Such anytime descriptions of problem solving methods are attractive because they allow a trade-off to be made between available computation time and output-quality. It turns out that many problem solving methods found in the literature have a natural anytime behaviour, which has remained largely unexploited until now. In this paper we propose an axiomatic description of performance profiles. Furthermore, we give a fixed schematic form for these axiomatic descriptions. Finally, we apply our proposal to a number of realistic problem-solving methods, namely hierarchical classification (used in MDX), and parametric design methods from XCON and VT. 1 Motivation A dominant theme in the Knowledge Engineering literature on Problem Solving ...