Logic for Knowledge Representation and Reasoning

• One of the core problems in developing an intelligent system is knowledge representation, i.e., solving the problems of (1) how to represent the knowledge one has about a problem domain, and (2) how to reason using that knowledge in order to answer questions or make decisions
  
  
• Knowledge representation deals with the problem of how to model the world sufficiently for intelligent action
  
  
• Logic is one of the oldest representation languages studied for AI, and is the foundation for many existing systems that use logic as either inspiration or the basis for the tools in that system (e.g., rule-based expert systems and the Prolog programming language)
  
  
• For a knowledge-based intelligent agent, we need:
  
  
  • To represent knowledge about the world in a formal language
    
    
  • To reason about the world using inferences in the language
    
    
  • To decide what action to take by inferring that the selected action is good