Solving mathematical problems using knowledge-based systems Original Research Article

In this paper, a knowledge-based system is developed to teach students in a basic mathematical course how to solve problems. First, the system recognizes handwritten mathematical expressions. Then, it understands the questions, interprets the expressions, and finally, solves the problems. In addition, two mathematical topics are addressed: differentiation and finding a general term in a series of integers. The first steps of the recognition stage are scaling, thinning, and representing each thinned symbol by a model which consists of several short straight lines. The system recognizes each symbol by comparing its resultant model with the stored models in the system knowledge base. After recognizing all the symbols, the system applies another set of rules to understand the problem, and interpret the expression. Finally, the rules in the inference engine are applied to solve the questions.