Representing and locating deduction rules in a semantic network

A semantic network is defined with its arcs and nodes separated into various sets. Arcs are partitioned into descending, ascending, and auxiliary arcs. Nodes are partitioned into base, variable, assertion, pattern and auxiliary nodes. Nodes can be temporary or permanent.Some pattern and assertion nodes, called rule nodes, represent propositional functions of the nodes they dominate. Rule nodes may bind the variables they dominate with any one of a set of binding relations representing quantifiers. A rule node which dominates variables all of which are bound is a constant deduction rule.Deduction rules may be viewed as pattern-invoked procedures. The type of propositional function determines the procedure, the variables bound by the rule are the local variables, and the quantifier determines the type of binding.A binding is defined as a list of variables associated with the nodes they are bound to. A binding can be used like a substitution, except it is seldom actually applied. Instead, a pattern node and a binding for it are used as a pair.A match routine is defined which is given a source node and a binding and finds target nodes, target bindings and more fully specified source bindings. Target nodes that are patterns provide entrees into relevant rules.