CS724 Artificial Intelligence - Spring 2006

Instructor Dr. P. Juell - http://www.cs.ndsu.nodak.edu/~juell
Office 256C IACC
Phone 231-8196
Email paul.juell@ndsu.edu
Class times: 9:30-10:45 TR 106 IACC
Office Hours 11:00-11:50pm TR
Class web site: http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/instruct/juell/cs724s06/home.html

Course schedule/outline/calendar of events

    Spring 2006
       Mo Tu We Th Fr 
          --    --
01 Jan    10 11 12 13 
02      H 17 18 19 20 Holiday - Martin Luther King, Jr. 
03     23 24 25 26 27 
04     30 31  1  2  3 
05 Feb  6  7  8  9 10 
06     13 14 15 16 17 
07      H 21 22 23 24 Holiday - Presidents' day
08     27 28  1  2  3 
09 March6  7  8  9 10 
        H  H  H  H  H Holiday - Spring Break
10     20 21 22 23 24 
11     27 28 29 30 31
12 April3  4  5  6  7
13     10 11 12 13  H Holiday
14      H 18 19 20 21 Holiday
15     24 25 26 27 28 
16 May  1  2  3  4  5 Last Week of Classes
Finals  8  9 10 11 12

Unless otherwise noted, programs will be due on Thursday(R) of stated week, tests will be on Tuesday(T) of stated week.

week	due	[reading] {program- (points) due on week above)
		AI as a paradigm - take insolvable problem, microworld, bag of tricks
1		[Ch1] AI: history and applications [Ch2] the predicate calculus [Ch10] lisp
2	{prog1 (20) simple lisp}	[Ch3] structures and strategies for state space search [Ch4] heuristic search
3		[Ch5] control and implementation of state space search [Ch9] an introduction to Prolog
4		[Ch6] knowledge-intensive problem solving (rule-based expert systems) [Ch7] reasoning with uncertain or incomplete information
5	{prog2 (30) blocks}	[Ch12] automated reasoning
6	TEST 1
7	{prog4 (10) proposal for rules system due T} {prog3 (30) due R missionaries and cannibals}	[Ch8] knowledge representation
8		[Ch11] natural language
9	{prog5 (30) full rule system }	[Ch8] [GUS] advanced representation in Prolog (we will use FRL in lisp)
10
11	TEST 2 {prog6 grammar for English}	[Ch12] automated reasoning [Ch13] machine learning: symbolic learning [Ch14] machine learning: connectionist (Neural networks)
12		genetic algorithms
13	{prog7 (30) simple GUS}	second time around on some topics computational linguistics
14	{prog8 (30) simple GA or NN program}
15	TEST 3
16	{prog9 (30) grammar solving a problem}
	Final (200)

CS724 AI

EXPECTED BACKGROUND FOR COURSE Ability to deal with formal symbolic notations such as FOPC and mathematics. Skill in programming and reading programs in more than one programming language. Background in data structures and formal notations for describing programs, such as BNF grammars.

GOALS

The student will: develop an understanding of the philosophy of AI and of several AI techniques, will be able to use the techniques and could evaluate the appropriateness of using the techniques for a real problem.

OBJECTIVES

The student will: be able to solve problems using the AI techniques and the overall AI philosophy, will be able to develop programs in LISP, PROLOG and other AI programming notations, will be able to present a case, in English, for using various AI techniques.

MATERIAL

Readings in addition to the book will be required. The material will be on reserve in the library under JUELL CS724. Occasionally notices will be posted to the class home page. You are responsible for checking this information twice a week.

Problem statements, old tests and notes can be found on the WEB under the class home page. Some of the tools we will use are in ~juell/cs724pub/tools on the classroom machine (abacus) and on the SOD cluster.

Course description

Surveys major areas of AI including theorem proving, heuristic search, problem-solving, computer analysis of scenes, robotics, natural language understanding, and knowledge-based systems. Prereq. CS 372 or Graduate standing.

Evaluation procedures and criteria

GRADING
300 points tests (3 at 100 each)
240 points programs
200 points final (takehome: see the class home page)
50 points miscellaneous (seldom used)

Grade calculated by summing the points received and dividing by the points attempted. Normally grades are based on 90+% A, 80+% B, 70+% C, 60+% D and 59-% F. This may be adjusted some.

PROGRAMS DUE IN CLASS, AT THE START OF CLASS, ON DATE DUE. NO CREDIT FOR LATE PROGRAMS. There are no makeup tests.

Required student resources

The book Artificial Intelligence [Luger 2002]
and an account for the SOD cluster. You need to get the SOD account by on-line registration. The SOD cluster is listed as UNIX cluster.

Special Needs

Any students with disabilities or other special needs, who need special accommodations in this course are invited to share these concerns or requests with the instructor as soon as possible.

Academic Honesty statement

All work in this course must be completed in a manner consistent with NDSU University Senate Policy, Section 335: Code of Academic Responsibility and Conduct ( http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/policy/335.htm).
All work is to be independent, this includes the tests, programs and the final take home test. Copying even a sentence from another student, current or previous is plagiarism. The instructor has a complete set of previous finals and views plagiarism on the final as a very serous offense.