Most of the reasoning that people do is non-numeric. AI programs often do some numerical calculation, but focus on reasoning with symbols that represent objects and relationships in the real world.

• Objects.

• Properties of objects.

• Relationships among objects.

• Rules about classes of objects.

Examples of symbolic processing:

• Understanding English:

  
  (show me a good chinese restaurant in los altos)
  

• Reasoning based on general principles:

  
  if:   the patient is male
  then: the patient is not pregnant
  

• Symbolic mathematics:

  
  If y = m*x+b, what is the derivative
  of y with respect to x?
  

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