ACM SIGIR 2000 Workshop on Mathematical/Formal Methods in Information Retrieval

Any IR system is trying to a n s w e r or aims at answering m a user's request by way of retrieval, which is implemented using algorithms based on some mathematical model of the main entities involved (objects to be searched, user's request, relevance to query, and so on). The mathematical methods used so far in retrieval modelling rely on vector space theory, probability theory, classical set theory, Boolean logic, fuzzy set theory, topology, algebra, matroid theory, recursion theory, rough sets, decision theory. Beside the mathematical methods, different alternative ideas, methods and techniques (e.g. knowledge base, artificial neural networks, etc.) help improve retrieval.