CMSC 471 - Homework #6

Out 11/20/02, due 12/4/02


Please remember: In all questions on this homework (and throughout the class!), you should show your reasoning, in order to receive partial credit for incorrect answers.
 

1. Partial-order planning (35 points)

(Paraphrased from Russell & Norvig Exercise 11.2.) Consider a version of the shopping problem (Section 11.5) that incorporates a simple notion of payment.

(a) (5 points) Let the constant CC denote a credit card that the agent can use to buy any object. Modify the description of Buy so that the agent has to have its credit card in order to buy anything. Note that you will also need to modify the At predicate so that it takes two arguments: an object (e.g., the agent or the credit card) and a location.

(b) (6 points) Write a PickUp operator that enables the agent to Have an object if it is portable and at the same location as the agent.

(c) (12 points) Assume that the credit card is At home, but Have(CC) is initially false. Show a partially ordered plan that achieves the (simplified) goal (of Have(Milk) & At(Home)), showing both ordering constraints and causal links. (Note that we are no longer worrying about bananas and drills, just milk. Note also that you only need to show the plan, not the planning steps.)

(d) (12 points) Explain in detail what happens during the planning process when the agent explores the partial plan constructed in (c) in which it leaves home without the card. (You can do this by showing a series of partial plans in the search sequence, or by listing the sequence of plan modifications and/or backtracking steps using clear and complete English descriptions.)
 

2. Decision tree learning (30 pts.)

The following table gives a data set for deciding whether to play or cancel a ball game, depending on the weather conditions.
 
Outlook Temp (F) Humidity (%) Windy? Class
sunny 75 70 true Play
sunny 80 90 true Don't Play
sunny 85 85 false Don't Play
sunny 72 95 false Don't Play
sunny 69 70 false Play
overcast 72 90 true Play
overcast 83 78 false Play
overcast 64 65 true Play
overcast 81 75 false Play
rain 71 80 true Don't Play
rain 65 70 true Don't Play
rain 75 80 false Play
rain 68 80 false Play
rain 70 96 false Play

(a) (10 pts.) At the root node for a decision tree in this domain, what are the information gains associated with the Outlook and Humidity attributes? (Use a threshold of 75 for humidity (i.e., assume a binary split: humidity <= 75 / humidity > 75.)

(b) (10 pts.) Again at the root node, what are the gain ratios associated with the Outlook and Humidity attributes (using the same threshold as in (a))?

(c) (10 pts.) Suppose you build a decision tree that splits on the Outlook attribute at the root node. How many children nodes are there are at the first level of the decision tree? Which branches require a further split in order to create leaf nodes with instances belonging to a single class? For each of these branches, which attribute can you split on to complete the decision tree building process at the next level (i.e., so that at level 2, there are only leaf nodes)? Draw the resulting decision tree, showing the decisions (class predictions) at the leaves.
 

3. Version spaces (35 points)

Consider the version space defined by the concepts that are a conjunction of the following three attributes:

Examples of legal concepts in this domain include [medium light angular], [large red sphere], and [any-size any-color any-shape]. No disjunctive concepts are allowed, other than the implicit disjunctions represented by the internal nodes in the attribute hierarchies.  (For example, the concept [large [red v yellow] curved] isn't allowed.)

(a) (5 points) Consider the initial version space for learning in this domain.  What is the G set?  How many elements are in the S set? Give one representative member of the initial S set.

(b) (5 points) Suppose the first instance I1 is a positive example, with attribute values [jumbo yellow ovoid]. After processing this instance, what are the G and S sets?

(c) (5 points) Now suppose the learning algorithm receives instance I2, a negative example, with attribute values [jumbo red pyramid]. What are the G and S sets after processing this example?

(d) (4 points) If learning ends at this point, how many possible concepts remain in the version space?

(e) (16 points - 4 points each) For this question, you should start with the version space that remains after I1 and I2 are processed. For each of the following combinations of instance type and events, give a single instance of the specified type that would cause the indicated event, if such an instance exists. If no such instance exists, explain why.

  1. A positive instance that causes the version space to collapse.
  2. A negative instance that causes the version space to collapse.
  3. A positive instance that reduces the size of the version space to a single concept.
  4. A negative instance that reduces the size of the version space to a single concept.