A Heuristic Program to Solve Geometric Analogy Problems

Abstract

A program to solve a wide class of intelligence-test problems of the "geometric-analogy" type ("figure A is to figure B as figure C is to which of the following figures?") is being constructed. The program, which is written in LISP, uses heuristic methods to (a) calculate, from relatively primitive input descriptions, "articular" (cf. Minsky, Steps Toward Artificial Intelligence) descriptions of the figures, then (b) utilize these descriptions in finding an appropriate transformation rule and applying it, modifying it as necessary, to arrive at an answer. The current version has solved a number of geometric-analogy problems and is now being modified in several ways and run on further test cases.