---
title: "The Superiority of Relative Criteria in Partial Matching and Generalization"
authors:
  - "Paul J. Kline"
doi: ""
url: "https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1981/59"
pdf: "https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1981/0059.pdf"
venue: "Proceedings of the Seventh International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence"
year: 1981
pages: "296-302"
track: "Nowledge Representation"
keywords:
---

# The Superiority of Relative Criteria in Partial Matching and Generalization

Paul J. Kline

*Proceedings of the Seventh International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence*, pages 296-302.

## Abstract

Some familiar justifications for concluding that a data element D is an unacceptable match to a pattern element P are examined for their suitability for partial-matching applications. All of these absolute criteria are found to be unacceptable in that they rule out some plausible partial matches. A partial matching program, RELAX, is described which justifies the conclusion that a data element Ra is an unacceptable match to a pattern element P on the grounds that some other data element Rb is-a better match to f· The use of such relative criteria makes it possible to compute all of the kinds of mappings that Kling [ 9] has claimed are required to account for intuitions about similarity. The ability to form unrestrictive mappings allows RELAX to construct generalizations that have eluded other approaches [ 5' 6 ].