Reasoning With Conditional Ceteris Paribus Preference Statements

Craig Boutilier
Department of Computer Science
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC, CANADA, V6T 1Z4
email: cebly@cs.ubc.ca

Ronen I. Brafman
Department of Math and Computer Science
Ben-Gurion University
Beer Sheva, ISRAEL 84105
email: brafman@cs.bgu.ac.il

Holger H. Hoos
Department of Computer Science
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC, CANADA, V6T 1Z4
email: hoos@cs.ubc.ca

David Poole
Department of Computer Science
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC, CANADA, V6T 1Z4
email: poole@cs.ubc.ca

Abstract
In many domains it is desirable to assess the preferences of users in a qualitative rather than quantitative way. Such representations of qualitative preference orderings form an important component of automated decision tools. We propose a graphical representation of preferences that reflects conditional dependence and independence of preference statements under a ceteris paribus (all else being equal) interpretation. Such a representation is often compact and arguably natural. We describe several search algorithms for dominance testing based on this representation; these algorithms are quite effective, especially in specific network topologies, such as chain- and tree-structured networks, as well as polytrees.

To appear, UAI-99

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