xvii, 621 pages : 25 cm "In recent years, Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) has grown from a small-scale laboratory science into a technological and industrial success. We now possess an arsenal of techniques for creating computer programs that control manufacturing processes, diagnose computer faults and human diseases, design computers, do insurance underwriting, play grandmaster-level chess, and so on." "Basic research in A.I. has expanded enormously during this period. In the second edition of Artificial Intelligence, Rich and Knight rigorously explore all aspects of A.I. The book reflects both the level of scientific maturity of A.I. as a field and the excitement that new approaches and new areas of inquiry have generated. The authors use numerous real-world examples to motivate and explain A.I. techniques. Because A.I. is largely an experimental science, every chapter includes detailed algorithm descriptions that allow the student to build his or her own working A.I. programs. Book jacket."--Jacket Includes bibliographical references (pages 583-603) and indexes What is artificial intelligence? -- Problems, problem spaces, and search -- Heuristic search techniques -- Knowledge representation issues -- Using predicate logic -- Representing knowledge using rules -- Symbolic reasoning under uncertainty -- Statistical reasoning -- Weak slot-and-filler structures -- Strong slot-and-filler structures -- Knowledge representation summary -- Game playing -- Planning -- Understanding -- Natural language processing -- Parallel and distributed AI -- Learning -- Connectionist models -- Common sense -- Expert systems -- Perception and action -- Conclusion