Performing inferences over relation data bases
Jack Minker · 1975
In a relational data base, if a relation is listed explicitly in the data base, then questions asking whether the relation exists can be retrieved readily. There are questions that may be posed to such a system in which, although the answer is not listed in an explicit form, nonetheless, the answer is implicit within the system. In this paper, an algorithm is presented which will permit questions to be answered where the answer is implicit within the data base. One must infer the answer from the given relations. The problem of performing inferences is related to developments in the field of artificial intelligence: state-space, problem-reduction, and theorem-proving techniques all apply. It is shown how the answer to the question may be extracted, and the reasons for the deduction may be given. Developments required to construct an operational relational system for large data base problems with an inferential capability are discussed.