Artificial Intelligence / Unit 5 AI 0230 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Top-Down at the Clinic
The idea
One top-down run answers a single question and leaves behind a tree that is the answer's full justification.
In practice
Same plant, one query: does it need repotting? The goal needs-repot matches rule four's head, so the new subgoal is root rot risk. That matches rule two's head: subgoals overwatered and no-drainage. Overwatered matches rule one's head: subgoals yellow leaves and soggy soil — both established facts. No-drainage: an established fact. Every branch of the tree now ends in a fact, and the answer is yes. Draw what happened: a tree with the question at the root, rules as the branchings, and facts at every leaf — grown top-down, verified bottom-up, touching neither radiators nor dry air, because the question's ancestry never runs through them.
Where people slip
The tree is not a byproduct — it is the proof, ready to be shown to anyone who asks why.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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