[comp.ai] LOOKING FOR AN ALGORITHM THAT CONVERTS RULE BASES INTO DECISION TREES

jasko@charles.bu.edu (John V. Jaskolski) (04/24/91)

   I am looking for any information (textbooks, articles, etc.)
regarding algorithms that convert rules into decision trees.  I am
aware of papers that describe mechanisms for converting decision trees
into rules (e.g., Quinlan's "Generating Production Rules From Decision
Trees"); however, I have not found anything on converting rules into
decision trees.  If anyone can make any recommendations I would
greatly appreciate it.

Thank You In Advance For Your Help,

John V. Jaskolski
jasko@park.bu.edu

scotp@csc2.essex.ac.uk (Scott P D) (04/26/91)

In article <JASKO.91Apr24114854@charles.bu.edu> jasko@charles.bu.edu (John V. Jaskolski) writes:
>   I am looking for any information (textbooks, articles, etc.)
>regarding algorithms that convert rules into decision trees.  I am
>aware of papers that describe mechanisms for converting decision trees
>into rules (e.g., Quinlan's "Generating Production Rules From Decision
>Trees"); however, I have not found anything on converting rules into
>decision trees.  If anyone can make any recommendations I would
>greatly appreciate it.



Well, one recommendation might be to stop looking.  While there is a set
of rules corresponding to any decision tree, the converse is not true.  The
reason is that trees are (by definition) cycle free, whereas a set of rules
can define an iterative or recursive process.  Hence, only a rather
restricted class of rule sets can be transformed into decision trees.




Paul Scott, Dept Computer Science, University of Essex, Colchester, UK.