INTAL–an expert system for the identification of igneous rocks in the hand specimen

✍ Scribed by Donald D. Hawkes

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 547 KB
• Volume: 20
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0072-1050
• DOI: 10.1002/gj.3350200405

✦ Synopsis

INTAL is an expert system which will identify igneous rocks in the hand specimen on the basis of a description given to the computer by an inexperienced geologist. It assumes only that the user can identify the common rock-forming minerals and has a rudimentary knowledge of the jargon of an igneous petrographer. The computer has no control over the user's initial description, which is freely written in English, and only partial control over any subsequent interactive dialogue. INTAL is programmed in BASIC and may be used on a small microcomputer. The program works by repetitively scanning all user input for significant keywords until the attributes of a production rule are assembled and the rock is identified.