The methodology used by a knowledge base designer to represent a world can be expressed as follows:

(24th-July-2020)

Step 1

A knowledge base designer chooses a task domain or world to represent, which is the intended interpretation. This could be some aspect of the real world (for example, the structure of courses and students at a university, or a laboratory environment at a particular point in time), some imaginary world (such as the world of Alice in Wonderland, or the state of the electrical environment if a switch breaks), or an abstract world (for example, the world of numbers and sets). The designer also must choose which propositions are of interest.

Step 2

The knowledge base designer selects atoms to represent some aspects of the world. Each atom has a precise meaning with respect to the intended interpretation.

Step 3

The knowledge base designer tells the system propositions that are true in the intended interpretation. This is often called axiomatizing the domain, where the given propositions are the axioms of the domain.

Step 4

The KB designer can now ask questions about the intended interpretation. The system can answer these questions. The designer is able to interpret the answers using the meaning assigned to the symbols.