On midterm #2:

What to expect: Here are the sorts of questions I tend to ask:

• Define terms in your own words.
• Sketch the execution of an algorithm.
• Encode sentences as propositional logic
• Encode sentences as FOL
• Prove a sentence using a particular technique
• Explain why an algorithm has the characteristics it does. For example, which search technique does the decision tree algorithm implement?

Here are the sorts of questions I will not ask.

• Write syntactically correct Python code. (I may ask you to write pseudocode, but I'll be interested in program correctness, not whether every bracket and colon is in the right place)
• Multiple choice questions.
• "Trick" questions - the point of this exam is to test your knowledge of the topics we've covered. I may ask you hard questions, but I won't ask things that are deliberately misleading or deceptive.

Potential midterm topics:

• Propositional logic:
  • Encoding sentences
  • definition of entailment, implication, contraposition
  • Definition of a model
  • Definition of sound and complete inference mechanisms
  • Inference rules (modus ponens, and-elimination, or-introduction, DeMorgan's Law)
  • Converting to CNF
  • Horn clauses
  • Forward chaining, backward chaining
  • Resolution Proof
• First-order logic
  • Defintions as above
  • Encoding sentences
  • Converting to CNF
  • Inference in FOL: forward chaining, backward chaining, resolution
  • Unification
• Ontologies
  • Steps in designing an ontology
• Decision trees
  • What are they good for?
  • Learning definitions: batch, incremental, online, offline, active, passive
  • Decision tree algorithm