Object-oriented knowledge-based system for basic problem-solving in science and engineering

The traditional database systems and knowledge-based systems are inadequate to handle the knowledge required to solve computational problems in science and engineering. The conventional handbooks and textbooks of science and engineering contain data on scientific quantities in the form of tables and a large number of formulae relating these quantities in the form of algebraic equations. This paper describes a knowledge-based system, developed using object-oriented approach to store and manipulate this kind of knowledge. The formulae are input in the same form as they are written, in terms of the well known symbols used by an engineer or a scientist. The system interprets the symbols as representing scientific quantities and links them with the underlying data and methods in the knowledge base. By linking data on scientific quantities with one or more appropriate formulae, it is shown that the knowledge base can be used for basic problem solving in science and engineering. The system has been developed on a Sun Spark Station using object-oriented environment, objectworks C++.