ANSWERING ENGLISH QUESTIONS BY COMPUTER: A SURVEY,

Abstract

Fourteen question-answering systems which are more or less completely programmed and operating are described and reviewed. The systems range from a conversation machine to programs which make sentences about pictures and systems which translate from English into logical calculi. Systems are classified as data based, text based, and inferential. Principals and methods of operations are detailed and discussed. It is concluded that the data base question answerer has passed from initial research into the developmental phase. The most difficult and important research questions for the advancement of general purpose language processors are seen to be concerned with measuring meaning, dealing with ambiguities, translating into formal languages and searching large tree structures. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 02, 1964
Accession Number
AD0437610

Entities

People

  • R. F. Simmons

Organizations

  • System Development Corporation

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Ambiguity
  • Computers
  • Databases
  • Formal Languages
  • Language

Readers

  • Computational Linguistics
  • Systems Analysis and Design