/* TEACH NUMBER-RULEBASE.P 25 Nov 2011 Modified: 28 Nov 2011 Setting up mappings between numbers and their verbal descriptions http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/poplog/teach/number-rulebase.p This teach file is the subject of a video tutorial available on the CogAff web site and on YouTube http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/cogaff/tutorials/number-rulebase.ogv http://www.youtube.com/aaronsloman#p/a/u/0/9TAQoRpvLFE In the video presentation, which was unscripted, I made a couple of minor mistakes. If you notice them try to work out what I should have said. Some of the rules displayed during the video have now had substantial comments added in this file, especially the rules countnumbers_from and countto Aaron Sloman School of Computer Science University of Birmingham =============================================================================== This is one of a number of tutorials on how the benefits of programming and computer science go beyond providing lots of useful, exciting, entertaining practical applications. In addition, acquiring a deep understanding of ways of designing, building and testing complex information processing systems can give us new ways of thinking about how NATURAL information processing systems, produced by biological evolution, such as animal minds and human minds work. One important aspect of human minds is their ability to learn about mathematics, and how to make mathematical discoveries. That includes learning about numbers. This tutorial shows how to use a rule-based system to model, in a simplified way, some aspects of what humans learn. The system used here is Poprulebase, an extension of Pop11, a powerful language developed for teaching and research in AI (Artificial Intelligence). Pop11 and its extension, Poprulebase, are part of Poplog, described here. http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/poplog/freepoplog.html This file is a mixture of comments and executable Pop11 and Poprulebase code. It can be compiled using the editor command l1, to make the program available for testing or demonstration. CONTENTS - (Use g to access required sections) -- Introduction -- Learning about numbers vs learning about numerosity -- The language used here: Pop11, part of Poplog -- The current set of rules -- Compiling the program -- Running the ruleset -- Load prerequisite libraries -- Define the demo ruleset concerned with counting -- The control procedure run_counting(data); -- Exercises -- Further reading -- Introduction --------------------------------------------------- This is one of a collection of tutorials illustrating the notion of "thinky" programming, explained in http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/poplog/examples The importance of computing and knowledge of computing is very widely acknowledged in many of not all countries. Yet, of all the reasons for learning about computing, and for teaching it in school, the one that is of the deepest significance in the long term goes largely unrecognised and untaught, though it was recognised by some people several decades ago. I tried to explain some of it in my 1978 book (now freely available online): The Computer Revolution in Philosophy: Philosophy, Science and Models of Mind http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/cogaff/crp/ This tutorial focuses on a subset of the ideas in Chapter 8, online here: http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/cogaff/crp/chap8.html On Learning About Numbers: Problems And Speculations This is one of many illustrations (albeit enormously simplified for tutorial purposes) of ways in which learning about computing provides us not only with new means of creating and using many tools, machines, and services based on computers but also provides us with powerful new tools for thinking and reasoning about complex structures and processes, including processes that go on in products of biological evolution: seeing, understanding, learning, planning, acting, controlling, communicating, discovering, proving, wanting, wondering whether and many more. Those are all natural (biological) forms of information processing, many of which are still not understood and cannot yet be replicated in computers and robots. But even when we don't yet know how the natural example works in any detail, we can attempt to clarify aspects of what it can do, what its competences are, what the uses of those competences are, and the construction of such simplified models can be useful stepping stones towards modelling the processes in full. This tutorial focuses on some aspects of what goes on when a young human learns about numbers. -- Learning about numbers vs learning about numerosity ---------------- The concepts of "number" and "numerosity" are often confused by psychologists and biologists studying animal cognition. Learning about numbers is not the same as learning about "numerosity", e.g. being able to look at a group of objects and say "two", "three", or "four", etc. depending on the visual appearance of the group. That's because numbers are essentially concerned with sequential discrete operations, especially operations making use of or setting up one-to-one mappings between two or more sets of objects, whereas the visual labels need not be: they can involve classification of patterns or templates -- a very different process. Some of these ideas are explained in more detail in this chapter: http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/cogaff/crp/chap8.html On Learning About Numbers: Problems And Speculations However, even there, the topic is considerably simplified. But I hope that a few young learners can be inspired to think about and later develop and deploy computational theories about some of the kinds of learning that go on in young children and about some of the uses to which we put the results of that learning. This tutorial is an incomplete introduction to some of the techniques that might be used. We shall not attempt to model neurons, brain chemicals or any of the physical processes that go on in human brains. But we can hope to model (in simplified form) some of the thinking and discovery processes that go on in young learners after they have begun to learn about numbers. -- The language used here: Pop11, part of Poplog ---------------------- For this purpose, I have chosen a language, Pop11, developed for teaching and research in Artificial Intelligence, based on an older language Pop2 developed at Edinburgh University. Some of the features of Pop11 are summarised here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop11 It is part of the Poplog development environment, containing Pop11 and three other languages implemented in Pop11. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poplog One of the features of Pop11 that makes it very useful for teaching is that it has a relatively simple core shared with many other languages but has additional features that support a wide range of programming tasks some of which would be very difficult in most other languages (even Lisp, which is probably the language closest to Pop11). In particular, Pop11 is extendable in ways that allow the development of new special purpose programming languages that can be combined with Pop11. The particular extension used here is called Poprulebase, a language built around a collection of rules that can "fire" in an order that depends on other things going on in the computer, instead of being linearly ordered like the instructions in many more conventional programs. For experts, some more information about Poprulebase and its applications can be found in http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/poplog/teach/rulebase http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/poplog/help/poprulebase http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/poplog/packages/simagent.html This tutorial makes use of only a tiny subset of those extensions, including the use of Pop11's list "pattern matcher" which enormously simplifies many forms of symbol manipulation. We'll use a simple collection of rules for modelling a subset of a child's number competences, leaving it to learners to think of additional number competences or other competences that could be modelled. Some may even want to learn more about the poprulebase system in order to go on to do Artificial Intelligence research, or development. Initially I shall merely demonstrate the rules running, showing how some of the rules specified below are related to the competences demonstrated. Later, more ambitious teachers and students may decide to use these ideas for a different type of learning. */ /* -- The current set of rules ------------------------------------------- On 28 Nov 2011, the following rules were in the ruleset (this may change in a later version). RULE start RULE getquestion RULE bye RULE transform1 RULE transform2 RULE transform3 RULE unknown RULE new_number RULE new_numbers RULE nothingafter RULE whatafter RULE nothingbefore RULE whatbefore RULE countnumbers RULE countnumbers_from RULE countnumbers_fail RULE cannot_countfrom RULE countfrom RULE count_between_down RULE count_between_up RULE cannot_countto RULE countto RULE countitems RULE cannotcount RULE count RULE whatsfirst RULE whatslast RULE precedes RULE precedes_new RULE follows RULE follows_new RULE precedes RULE greater_unknown RULE greater RULE storedata RULE loadfile RULE dont_understand RULE cleanup -- Compiling the program ---------------------------------------------- This file is a mixture of program code and commented out text, using Pop11's comment brackets: /* */ The program below defines a ruleset in this format: define :ruleset counting_rules; ... RULE ==> RULE ==> RULE ==> ... enddefine; expressed in the notation of the Poprulebase extension of Pop11, which is part of the SimAgent toolkit described here: http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/poplog/packages/simagent.html If you have Poplog installed you can find more using these editor commands Make the package available: uses newkit ENTER teach rulebase read a tutorial introduction to rule-based programming ENTER help poprulebase read a long, extensive documentation file on poprulebase The ruleset below starts: define :ruleset counting_rules; -- Running the ruleset ------------------------------------------------ Once the ruleset definition has been compiled, e.g. using ENTER l1 the ruleset is invoked via this procedure defined near the end of this file: define run_counting(data); whch invokes a command of the form: prb_run("counting_rules", ); The initial database can be empty or contain some "innate" list of number names, e.g. [numwords one two three] ;;; Commands to start the program run_counting([]); ;;; or, for example run_counting([one two three]); */ /* -- Load prerequisite libraries ---------------------------------------- The 'uses' command loads the library only if it has not yet been compiled. */ ;;; Load the main package uses newkit uses poprulebase ;;; some extensions required for this demo uses prb_interact uses rdl uses list_to_string /* -- Define the demo ruleset concerned with counting -------------------- RULESET : counting_rules CREATED : 25 Nov 2011 PURPOSE : Demonstrate the use of poprulebase for modelling a changing competence. The command prb_run("counting_rules", []); will start the ruleset with an empty database, which can be extended during the ensuing interaction, with commands like one is a number two is a number three four and five are numbers and interrogated in various ways count up to six */ define :ruleset counting_rules; [DLOCAL [prb_allrules = true]]; RULE start [NOT started] ==> ;;; [ADD numwords one two three four five six seven eight nine] ;;; [ADD numwords] [ADD started] RULE getquestion [NOT sentence ==] ==> [READ 'What would you like me to do next?' [sentence ANSWER]] RULE bye [sentence bye] ==> [SAY 'I think this lesson was worth' [$$ random(20)] 'pounds. Thank you.'] [STOP] RULE transform1 ;;; capitalise LOAD for easier recognition [sentence load ??rest] ==> [NOT sentence ==] [sentence LOAD ??rest] RULE transform2 ;;; capitalise STORE for easier recognition [sentence store ??rest] ==> [NOT sentence ==] [sentence STORE ??rest] RULE transform3 ;;; replace bigger or larger or higher with greater, to simplify rules [OR [sentence ??first bigger ??rest] [sentence ??first larger ??rest] [sentence ??first higher ??rest] ] ==> [NOT sentence ==] [sentence ??first greater ??rest] RULE unknown [OR [sentence == whats after ?numname ==] [sentence == comes after ?numname ==] [sentence == whats before ?numname ==] [sentence == comes before ?numname ==] [sentence == count from ?numname ==] [sentence == count == to ?numname ==] [sentence is ?numname ==] ] [NOT numwords == ?numname ==] ==> [SAY ?numname is not a known word] [TESTADD answered] RULE new_number [sentence == ?numname is a number ==] [NOT numwords == ?numname ==] [numwords ??numwords] ==> [NOT numwords ??numwords] [numwords ??numwords ?numname] [SAY I have added ?numname as my last number word] [answered] RULE new_numbers [OR [sentence == ??numnames are == numbers ==] [sentence additional numbers are ??numnames] [sentence the next numbers are ??numnames] [sentence the numbers ??numnames come next] ] [NOT numwords == ??numnames ==] [numwords ??numwords] ==> [POP11 lvars item; [% for item in numnames do unless member(item, [and also , .]) then item endunless endfor %] -> numnames; ] [NOT numwords ??numwords] [numwords ??numwords ??numnames] [SAY I have added ?numnames as new number words] [answered] RULE nothingafter [OR [sentence == whats after ?numname ==] [sentence == what comes after ?numname ==] ] [numwords == ?numname] ==> [SAY Nothing comes after ?numname] [answered] RULE whatafter [OR [sentence == whats after ?numname ==] [sentence == what comes after ?numname ==] ] [numwords == ?numname ?nextname ==] ==> [SAY ?nextname comes after ?numname] [answered] RULE nothingbefore [OR [sentence == whats before ?numname ==] [sentence == what comes before ?numname ==] ] [numwords ?numname ==] ==> [SAY Nothing comes before ?numname] [answered] RULE whatbefore [OR [sentence == whats before ?numname ==] [sentence == what comes before ?numname ==] ] [numwords == ?prevname ?numname ==] ==> [SAY ?prevname comes before ?numname] [answered] RULE countnumbers ;;; this rule has to come earlier than some of the others [NOT answered] [OR [sentence count the numbers from ?name1 to ?name2] [sentence how many numbers from ?name1 to ?name2] ] [numwords == ?name1 ??rest ?name2 ==] [numwords ??numwords] ==> [NOT sentence ==] [POP11 lvars items = [^name1 ^^ rest ^name2], name, num, lastname, lastnum; for name, num in items, numwords do [^num ^name] ==> num -> lastnum; name -> lastname; endfor; if lastname = name2 then [there are ^lastnum numbers from ^name1 to ^name2 inclusive] => else ;;; should not happen [Sorry I lost track] => endif; ] [answered] RULE countnumbers_from [NOT answered] [sentence count the numbers from ?name1] [numwords == ?name1 ??rest] [numwords ??numwords] ==> [NOT sentence ==] [POP11 ;;; variables local to this action lvars items = [^name1 ^^rest], num, name, lastnum; ;;; Note the parallel iteration over two lists: ;;; 'num' iterates over the contents of numwords, used for counting ;;; 'name' iterates over the contents of items, being counted ;;; The iteration here uses 'for ... in ... do ... endfor' whereas the ;;; iteration in countitems, below, uses 'for ... on ... do ... endfor' for num, name in numwords, items do [^num ^name] ==> ;;; keep a memory of the last number used for counting, as it ;;; will be needed in the summary printed after the loop num -> lastnum; endfor; [there are ^lastnum numbers from ^name1 onwards] => ] [answered] RULE countnumbers_fail [NOT answered] [sentence count the numbers from ?name1 to ?name2] [NOT numwords == ?name1 ??rest ?name2] ==> [SAY Sorry - I do not seem to have numbers from ?name1 to ?name2] [answered] RULE cannot_countfrom [sentence == count from ?numname ==] [numwords == ?numname] ==> [SAY Sorry I dont know any numbers after ?numname] [answered] RULE countfrom [NOT answered] [sentence == count from ?numname] [numwords == ?numname ??rest] ==> [SAY ?numname ??rest] [answered] RULE count_between_down [NOT answered] [OR [sentence count == from ?name1 == to ?name2 ==] [sentence count == to ?name2 == from ?name1 ==] ] [numwords == ?name2 ??rest ?name1 ==] ==> [POP11 rev(rest) -> rest] [SAY ?name1 ??rest ?name2] [answered] RULE count_between_up [NOT answered] [OR [sentence count == from ?name1 == to ?name2 ==] [sentence count == to ?name2 == from ?name1 ==] ] [numwords == ?name1 ??rest ?name2 ==] ==> [SAY ?name1 ??rest ?name2] [answered] RULE cannot_countto [sentence == count == to ?numname ==] [numwords ?numname ==] ==> [SAY Sorry I dont know any numbers before ?numname] [answered] RULE countto ;;; needs to come after count_between_up and count_between_down [NOT answered] [sentence == count == to ?numname ==] [numwords ??first ?numname ==] ==> [SAY ??first ?numname] [answered] RULE countitems ;;; modified 28 Nov 2011 [NOT answered] [OR [sentence count == : ??items] [sentence how many == : ??items] ] [numwords ??numwords] ==> [POP11 ;;; like the action in rule countnumbers_from above, this action ;;; iterates over two lists in parallel: the variable 'numwords' is ;;; used to move along the list links in the list numwords (found in ;;; the last condition before "==>", and the variable 'items' moves ;;; along the list items, found in the OR condition above. ;;; But there is an important difference. In the previous rule, the ;;; loop variables took as successive values items IN each of the rules ;;; (e.g. the number names 'one', 'two', ... in the list numwords), whereas ;;; in this loop the variables take as successive values the TAILS of the two ;;; lists, which is why the word 'on' is used instead of 'in, i.e. ;;; for numwords, items *on* numwords, items do ;;; instead of ;;; for numwords, items *in* numwords, items do ;;; ;;; This means that instead of the successive values of 'numwords' being ;;; 'one', 'two', 'three', they are the lists ;;; [one two three four ...], then [two three four ...] then [three four ...] ;;; and so on. ;;; The 'on' form of loop is useful when the program code after the loop needs ;;; to know how far the loop got in case it did not get to the end as can ;;; happen in this case if there are not enough names in numwords to count ;;; everything in items. lvars lastnum; ;;; Remember last number used for counting. for numwords, items on numwords, items do [% hd(numwords), hd(items) %] ==> hd(numwords) -> lastnum; endfor; ;;; Did we get to the end of items? Not if length(items) > 0 ;;; or equivalently items /= [] (items is not the empty list). if items /= [] then [I counted ^lastnum items -- but] => [I dont know enough number words to continue] => else [There were ^lastnum items] => endif; ] [answered] RULE cannotcount [NOT answered] [sentence count ==] [numwords] ==> [SAY 'Sorry: I don\'t know any numbers'] [answered] RULE count [NOT answered] [OR [sentence count ==] [sentence show == numbers ==] [sentence recite == numbers ==] ] [NOT sentence count == from ==] [NOT sentence count == to ==] [numwords ??numwords] [WHERE numwords /= []] ==> [SAY ??numwords] [answered] RULE whatsfirst [sentence == the first number ==] [numwords ?first ==] ==> [SAY the first number is ?first] [answered] RULE whatslast [sentence == the last number ==] [numwords == ?last] ==> [SAY the last number is ?last] [answered] RULE precedes [sentence == ?name1 precedes ?name2 ==] [numwords == ?name1 ?name2 ==] ==> [SAY I already know that ?name1 precedes ?name2] [answered] RULE precedes_new [sentence == ?name1 precedes ?name2 ==] ;;; is name2 the first item in numwords? [numwords ?name2 ??rest] ==> ;;; delete current list [NOT numwords ==] ;;; add new list of words [numwords ?name1 ?name2 ??rest] [SAY I now know that ?name1 is now the first number. Thanks.] [answered] RULE follows ;;; i.e. follows [OR [sentence == ?name2 follows ?name1 ==] [sentence == ?name2 succeeds ?name1 ==] [sentence == ?name2 comes after ?name1 ==] [sentence == ?name2 goes after ?name1 ==] ] [numwords == ?name1 ?name2 ==] ==> [SAY I already know that ?name2 comes after ?name1] [answered] RULE follows_new [OR [sentence == ?name2 follows ?name1 ==] [sentence == ?name2 succeeds ?name1 ==] [sentence == ?name2 comes after ?name1 ==] [sentence == ?name2 goes after ?name1 ==] ] [numwords ??first ?name1] ==> [NOT numwords ==] [numwords ??first ?name1 ?name2] [SAY I now know that ?name2 is the last number. Thanks.] [answered] RULE precedes ;;; i.e. follows [OR [sentence == ?name2 precedes ?name2 ==] [sentence == ?name2 comes before ?name2 ==] [sentence == ?name2 goes before ?name2 ==] [sentence == ?name2 = earlier than ?name2 ==] ] [numwords == ?name1 ?name2 ==] ==> [SAY I already know that ?name2 comes after ?name1] [answered] RULE greater_unknown [NOT answered] [sentence is ?name1 greater than ?name2] [NOT numwords == ?name2 == ] ==> [SAY sorry ?name2 is not recognized] [answered] RULE greater [NOT answered] [OR [sentence is ?name1 greater than ?name2] [sentence does ?name1 exceed ?name2] [sentence is ?name2 smaller than ?name1] [sentence does ?name2 precede ?name1] [sentence does ?name2 come before ?name1] ] [numwords ??firsts1 ?name1 ==] [numwords ??firsts2 ?name2 ==] ==> [POP11 lvars l1 = length(firsts1), l2 = length(firsts2); if name1 = name2 then 'No they are the same number ' => elseif l1 > l2 then 'Yes ' >< name1 >< ' is bigger than ' >< name2 => else 'No ' >< name2 >< ' is bigger' => endif ] [answered] RULE storedata ;;; store database in named file [NOT answered] [sentence STORE ??filename] ==> [NOT sentence ==] ;;; prevent this getting stored [NOT started] [POP11 list_to_string(filename) -> filename; if length(filename) > 0 then 'Storing database in ' >< filename => prb_storedata(filename); if sys_file_exists(filename) then 'Successfully created ' >< filename => else 'Something went wrong: please try again' => endif else '\nPlease type filename in string quotes \'....\'\n' => endif ] ;;; reinsert [started] [answered] RULE loadfile ;;; store database in named file [NOT answered] [sentence LOAD ??filename] ==> [NOT sentence ==] ;;; prevent this getting stored [NOT started] [POP11 list_to_string(filename) -> filename; if length(filename) > 0 then if sys_file_exists(filename) then 'Compiling ' >< filename => pop11_compile(filename); 'Compiled ' >< filename => else 'File does not exist: please try again' => endif else '\nPlease type filename in string quotes \'....\'\n' => endif ] RULE dont_understand ;;; no pattern has matched [NOT answered] [sentence ??sentence] ==> [SAY Sorry I did not understand [??sentence]] [answered] ;;; Final rule gets rid of previously typed in sentence. ;;; A more sophisticated program could save previous sentences ;;; and sometimes refer back to them. RULE cleanup ==> ;;; remove stuff from database [NOT sentence ==] [NOT answered] /* ;;; for debugging [POP11 prb_print_database(); pr(newline)] */ enddefine; /* -- The control procedure run_counting(data); -------------------------- */ /* PROCEDURE: run_counting (data) INPUTS : data is a list of number names OUTPUTS : NONE USED IN : Running the counting_rules ruleset CREATED : 25 Nov 2011 PURPOSE : Demonstration TESTS: ;;; Start the program with this command run_counting([]); ;;; or, for example, with some known number names run_counting([one two three]); ;;; interact with it one line at a time, e.g. one is a number two three and four are numbers count from two to six etc. Finish with bye */ define run_counting(data); ;;; First set some global variables which control the behaviour ;;; of the interpreter. dlocal ;;; Prevent prb_run continually pausing. Make it true ;;; to slow things down and show what is going on prb_walk = false, ;;; Make this true for more tracing prb_chatty = false; ;;; now run the interpreter ;;; give it the the ruleset name, a word, not the ruleset itself, ;;; so that the new ruleset will be used if recompiled during execution. prb_run("counting_rules", [[numwords ^^data]]); enddefine; /* ;;; The command to run the rules. run_counting([]); run_counting([numwords one two three]); */ pr('\ ;;; Commands to start the program\ run_counting([]);\ ;;; or, for example, with some known number names\ run_counting([one two three]);\ '); /* -- Exercises ---------------------------------------------------------- 1. Try modifying some of the formats in which the program can be given questions or instructions. 2. Try modifying the program so that it can do simple arithmetic what's two plus three what's three minus two It could answer that by counting from the the successor of the lower number up to the higher number. What should it reply in answer to what's two minus three Allow the questions to be asked in different formats: add two to three add two and three subtract two from four what's four take away two etc. 3. What are the advantages of adding zero as a number? Try doing that. 4. Try extending the program so that it can learn about teenwords: ten eleven twelve ... nineteen tentywords: twenty thirty forty fifty ... ninenty Then allow it to count up to nineteen. Then allow it to count beyond twenty (up to ninety nine) 5. Now extend the ability to addition and subtraction 6. Try adding multiplication, based on making copies of a list and counting the result. 7. Try adding division. */ /* -- Further reading ------------------------------------------------ Background pop11 TEACH LISTS TEACH LISTSUMMARY TEACH MATCHES HELP MATCHES TEACH ARITH HELP ARITH HELP NUMBERS TEACH TEACHNUMS HELP LOOPS TEACH STACK TEACH DEFINE TEACH VARS_AND_LVARS TEACH GRAMMAR TEACH STORYGRAMMAR Poprulebase and SimAgent After the command: uses newkit these should work: TEACH RULEBASE TEACH sim_agent TEACH sim_feelings TEACH sim_sheepdog.p TEACH number-rulebase.p (this file) HELP POPRULEBASE http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/poplog/packages/simagent.html */ /* --- $usepop/pop/packages/newkit/prb/teach/number-rulebase.p --- Copyright University of Birmingham 2011. All rights reserved. */