AN APPROACH TO AUTOMATIC PROBLEM-SOLVING

A digital computer program, the Graph Traverser (Doran & Michie 1966), can seek a solution to any problem which may be interpreted as that of finding a path from one specified node of a graph to another. Emphasis is placed Upon the evaluation of intermediate states of the problem (nodes of the graph) according to the extent to which they resemble the'goal' state. Sample results from first applications of the program, and possible future developments, are discussed. The program is related to other problemsolving programs. INTRODUCTION: PROBLEMS AND PROBLEM-SOLVING PROGRAMS How to travel from London to Birmingham may, in some circumstances, be a'problem'.