The Structure of Ill Structured Problems

Abstract

The boundary between well structured and ill structured ~roblems is vague, fluid and not susceptible to formalization. Any problem solving process w'iii appear ill structured if the problem solver is a serial machine that has access to a ~w:-yiarge long-term memory of potentially relevant information, and]or access to a very large exterlm! memory that provides information about the actual real-world c~,sequences of problem-~olving actions. There is no reason to suppose that new and hitherto uaknown concepts or teckniques are needed to enable artificial intelligence systems to operate successfully in domains that have these characteristics.