School seminar: The Interaction of Representation and Reasoning

Speaker: Prof Alan Bundy, School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh

Abstract

Successful reasoning is dependent on appropriate representation of both knowledge and of successful methods of reasoning. Failures of reasoning can suggest changes of representation. Reasoning failures can, for instance, take the form of proofs of false conjectures, failures to prove true conjectures or inefficient inference. I will illustrate these interactions by drawing on work multi-agent planning and the evolution of theories of physics.

Speaker

Prof. Bundy's research has entailed the building of a number of problem solving programs for different branches of mathematics, namely number theory, algebra, mechanics, ecological modelling and logic/functional programming. From 2008-12 he was a member of the Scottish Scientific Advisory Council. From 2010-12 he was Vice President and Trustee of the British Computer Society and Ambassador of the BCS Academy of Computing. In the 2012 New Years Honours he was awarded a CBE.