---
title: "Qualitative Mathematical Reasoning"
authors:
  - "Elisha Sacks"
doi: ""
url: "https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1985/24"
pdf: "https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1985/0024.pdf"
venue: "Proceedings of the Ninth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence"
year: 1985
pages: "137-138"
track: "Automated Reasoning"
keywords:
---

# Qualitative Mathematical Reasoning

Elisha Sacks

*Proceedings of the Ninth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence*, pages 137-138.

## Abstract

Qualitative analysis studies the me chanisms with which humans derive the abstract behavior of a complex system from a description of its components and th ei r interconnections, while ignoring unimportant or unknown low - level details. I present a program that analyzes a sys tem by forming and combining mathematiwl descriptions of its s ub -systems . This approach can overcome significant shortcomings in the s:mulation method used by other qu alitative reasoning systems.