Premium
THE SCOPE OF DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS IN QUALITATIVE REASONING
Author(s) -
Kalagnanam Jayant,
Henrion Max,
Subrahmanian Eswaran
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
computational intelligence
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.353
H-Index - 52
eISSN - 1467-8640
pISSN - 0824-7935
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8640.1994.tb00160.x
Subject(s) - scope (computer science) , ambiguity , qualitative reasoning , qualitative analysis , set (abstract data type) , computer science , qualitative research , management science , artificial intelligence , engineering , sociology , programming language , social science
Dimensional analysis, traditionally used in physics and engineering to identify quantitative relationships, has recently been applied to qualitative reasoning of physical systems. We illustrate some problems of this approach. In the light of this, we reexamine the fundamentals of dimensional analysis in order to more precisely characterize its scope and limitations as a tool in qualitative reasoning. We also explore its relationship to state equation representations of physical systems. In particular, we describe its value in providing a set of constraints to reduce the ambiguity that bedevils qualitative reasoning schemes. We argue that dimensional analysis should not be seen as a substitute for knowledge about the physics but rather a supplement to other sources of knowledge.