Relations and Comparisons with Other Techniques

Chapter 23 is concerned with areas that have a close relation to CBR. CBR systems have more or less close connections to other methods. It depends on the problem and the interests of the reader on how to make a choice of the methods. The intention of this chapter is twofold: First, finding out under which circumstances one should choose which methodology or which ones can be combined. Second, identifying origins and influence factors of CBR. We distinguish between methods that can be seen as alternative or complementary to CBR and areas that have influenced CBR. The former are database management systems, information retrieval systems, pattern recognition systems, knowledge-based systems, and machine-learning systems. The latter are uncertainty, cognitive science, knowledge management, and, again, machine learning. We looked at two categories: systems that retrieve results, and systems aimed at explicit knowledge representation and inference. We also support the reader on the choice of whether using CBR or something else. Finally, we look at which additional methods should I look at to increase the power of a CBR system. It is assumed that the readers have some knowledge about the discussed topics and the previous chapters. As previously mentioned, this chapter does not have a tools section.