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What is the easiest way to find who is the tallest in Prolog:
height(lisa,1.65).
height(sam,1.70).
height(luke,1.92).
height(nicole,1.54).
I want to write
tallest(X) :- Y is bigger than other Y's
SWI-Prolog has some different ways to solve this problem, for instance by means of library(solution_sequences)
?- order_by([desc(H)],height(P,H)).
H = 1.92,
P = luke ;
...
or using library(aggregate):
?- aggregate(max(H,P),height(P,H),max(_,P)).
P = luke.
less sophisticate Prologs probably will offer setof/3 and last/2:
?- setof(H:P,height(P,H),L),last(L,_:P).
P = luke,
L = [1.54:nicole, 1.65:lisa, 1.7:sam, 1.92:luke].
and still more basic engines, lacking setof/3, will offer
?- height(P,H),\+((height(_,L),L>H)).
P = luke,
H = 1.92 ;
Supposing that tallest(X) succeeds if, and only if, person X is taller than all other persons, I think that a correct answer would be:
tallest(X) :-
height(X, H),
forall((height(Y, H1),
X \= Y),
H > H1), !.
First scenario:
height(lisa,1.65).
height(sam,1.70).
height(luke,1.92).
height(nicole,1.54).
?- tallest(X).
X = luke.
Second scenario:
height(lisa, 1.65).
height(sam, 1.70).
height(luke, 1.92).
height(nicole, 1.54).
height(bob, 1.92). % Bob is as tall as Luke!
?- tallest(X).
false.
height(lisa,1.65).
height(sam,1.70).
height(luke,1.92).
height(nicole,1.54).
max_height(Person, Height, [[Person, Height]]).
max_height(P , H , [[P, H]|Tail]) :- max_height(_ , H2, Tail), H > H2.
max_height(P2, H2, [[_, H]|Tail]) :- max_height(P2, H2, Tail), H =< H2.
tallest(X) :- findall([P, H], height(P, H), Bag), max_height(X, _, Bag).
There are ways to avoid writing max_height : Prolog, find minimum in a list
I have an add2 predicate which resolves like this where s(0) is the successor of 0 i.e 1
?- add2(s(0)+s(s(0)), s(s(0)), Z).
Z = s(s(s(s(s(0)))))
?- add2(0, s(0)+s(s(0)), Z).
Z = s(s(s(0)))
?- add2(s(s(0)), s(0)+s(s(0)), Z).
Z = s(s(s(s(s(0)))))
etc..
I'm trying to do add in a predecessor predicate which will work like so
?- add2(p(s(0)), s(s(0)), Z).
Z = s(s(0))
?- add2(0, s(p(0)), Z).
Z = 0
?- add2(p(0)+s(s(0)),s(s(0)),Z).
Z = s(s(s(0)))
?- add2(p(0), p(0)+s(p(0)), Z).
Z = p(p(0))
I can't seem to find a way to do this. My code is below.
numeral(0).
numeral(s(X)) :- numeral(X).
numeral(X+Y) :- numeral(X), numeral(Y).
numeral(p(X)) :- numeral(X).
add(0,X,X).
add(s(X),Y,s(Z)) :- add(X,Y,Z).
add(p(X),Y,p(Z)) :- add(X,Y,Z).
resolve(0,0).
resolve(s(X),s(Y)) :-
resolve(X,Y).
resolve(p(X),p(Y)) :-
resolve(X,Y).
resolve(X+Y,Z) :-
resolve(X,RX),
resolve(Y,RY),
add(RX,RY,Z).
add2(A,B,C) :-
resolve(A,RA),
resolve(B,RB),
add(RA,RB,C).
In general, adding with successor arithmetic means handling successor terms, which have the shape 0 or s(X) where X is also a successor term. This is addressed completely by this part of your code:
add(0,X,X).
add(s(X),Y,s(Z)) :- add(X,Y,Z).
Now you have to make a decision; you can either handle the predecessors and the addition terms here, in add/3, or you can wrap this predicate in another one that will handle them. You appear to have chosen to wrap add/3 with add2/3. In that case, you will definitely need to create a reducing term, such as you've built here with resolve/2, and I agree with your implementation of part of it:
resolve(0,0).
resolve(s(X),s(Y)) :-
resolve(X,Y).
resolve(X+Y,Z) :-
resolve(X,RX),
resolve(Y,RY),
add(RX,RY,Z).
This is all good. What you're missing now is a way to handle p(X) terms. The right way to do this is to notice that you already have a way of deducting by one, by using add/3 with s(0):
resolve(p(X), R) :-
resolve(X, X1),
add(s(0), R, X1).
In other words, instead of computing X using X = Y - 1, we are computing X using X + 1 = Y.
Provided your inputs are never negative, your add2/3 predicate will now work.
I have two, slightly different, implementations of a predicate, unique_element/2, in Prolog. The predicate succeeds when given an element X and a list L, the element X appears only once in the list. Below are the implementations and the results:
Implementation 1:
%%% unique_element/2
unique_element(Elem, [Elem|T]) :-
not(member(Elem, T)).
unique_element(Elem, [H|T]) :-
member(Elem, T),
H\==Elem,
unique_element(Elem, T),
!.
Results:
?- unique_element(X, [a, a, b, c, c, b]).
false.
?- unique_element(X, [a, b, c, c, b, d]).
X = a ;
X = d.
Implementation 2:
%%% unique_element/2
unique_element(Elem, [Elem|T]) :-
not(member(Elem, T)).
unique_element(Elem, [H|T]) :-
H\==Elem,
member(Elem, T),
unique_element(Elem, T),
!.
In case you didn't notice at first sight: H\==Elem and member(Elem, T) are flipped on the 2nd impl, rule 2.
Results:
?- unique_element(X, [a, a, b, c, c, b]).
X = a.
?- unique_element(X, [a, b, c, c, b, d]).
X = a ;
X = d.
Question: How does the order, in this case, affect the result? I realize that the order of the rules/facts/etc matters. The two specific rules that are flipped though, don't seem to be "connected" or affect each other somehow (e.g. a cut in the wrong place/order).
Note: We are talking about SWI-Prolog here.
Note 2: I am aware of, probably different and better implementations. My question here is about the order of sub-goals being changed.
H\==Elem is testing for syntactic inequality at the point in time when the goal is executed. But later unification might make variables identical:
?- H\==Elem, H = Elem.
H = Elem.
?- H\==Elem, H = Elem, H\==Elem.
false.
So here we test if they are (syntactically) different, and then they are unified nevertheless and thus are no longer different. It is thus just a temporary test.
The goal member(Elem, T) on the other hand is true if that Elem is actually an element of T. Consider:
?- member(Elem, [X]).
Elem = X.
Which can be read as
(When) does it hold that Elem is an element of the list [X]?
and the answer is
It holds under certain circumstances, namely when Elem = X.
If you now mix those different kinds of goals in your programs you get odd results that can only explained by inspecting your program in detail.
As a beginner, it is best to stick to the pure parts of Prolog only. In your case:
use dif/2 in place of \==
do not use cuts - in your case it limits the number of answers to two. As in
unique_element(X, [a,b,c])
do not use not/1 nor (\+)/1. It produces even more incorrectness. Consider unique_element(a,[a,X]),X=b. which incorrectly fails while X=b,unique_element(a,[a,X]) correctly succeeds.
Here is a directly purified version of your program. There is still room for improvement!
non_member(_X, []).
non_member(X, [E|Es]) :-
dif(X, E),
non_member(X, Es).
unique_element(Elem, [Elem|T]) :-
non_member(Elem, T).
unique_element(Elem, [H|T]) :-
dif(H,Elem),
% member(Elem, T), % makes unique_element(a,[b,a,a|Xs]) loop
unique_element(Elem, T).
?- unique_element(a,[a,X]).
dif(X, a)
; false. % superfluous
?- unique_element(X,[E1,E2,E3]).
X = E1, dif(E1, E3), dif(E1, E2)
; X = E2, dif(E2, E3), dif(E1, E2)
; X = E3, dif(E2, E3), dif(E1, E3)
; false.
Note how the last query reads?
When is X a unique element of (any) list [E1,E2,E3]?
The answer is threefold. Considering one element after the other:
X is E1 but only if it is different to E2 and E3
etc.
TL;DR: Read the documentation and figure out why:
?- X = a, X \== a.
false.
?- X \== a, X = a.
X = a.
I wonder why you stop so close from figuring it out yourself ;-)
There are too many ways to compare things in Prolog. At the very least, you have unification, which sometimes can compare, and sometimes does more; than you have equvalence, and its negation, the one you are using. So what does it do:
?- a \== b. % two different ground terms
true.
?- a \== a. % the same ground term
false.
Now it gets interesting:
?- X \== a. % a free variable and a ground term
true.
?- X \== X. % the same free variable
false.
?- X \== Y. % two different free variables
true.
I would suggest that you do the following: figure out how member/2 does its thing (does it use unification? equivalence? something else?) then replace whatever member/2 is using in all the examples above and see if the results are any different.
And since you are trying to make sure that things are different, try out what dif/2 does. As in:
?- dif(a, b).
or
?- dif(X, X).
or
?- dif(X, a).
and so on.
See also this question and answers: I think the answers are relevant to your question.
Hope that helps.
Here is another possibility do define unique_element/2 using if_/3 and maplist/2:
:- use_module(library(apply)).
unique_element(Y,[X|Xs]) :-
if_(Y=X,maplist(dif(Y),Xs),unique_element(Y,Xs)).
In contrast to #user27815's very elegant solution (+s(0)) this version does not build on clpfd (used by tcount/3). The example queries given by the OP work as expected:
?- unique_element(a,[a, a, b, c, c, b]).
no
?- unique_element(X,[a, b, c, c, b, d]).
X = a ? ;
X = d ? ;
no
The example provided by #false now succeeds without leaving a superfluous choicepoint:
?- unique_element(a,[a,X]).
dif(a,X)
The other more general query yields the same results:
?- unique_element(X,[E1,E2,E3]).
E1 = X,
dif(X,E3),
dif(X,E2) ? ;
E2 = X,
dif(X,E3),
dif(X,E1) ? ;
E3 = X,
dif(X,E2),
dif(X,E1) ? ;
no
Can you not define unique_element like tcount Prolog - count repetitions in list
unique_element(X, List):- tcount(=(X),List,1).
I want to freeze my goal until some variable, for example list, is unbounded, right now I have
sieve(N,L) :-
freeze(Aux,sieve(N,L,[],Aux)),
numlist(2,N,Aux).
sieve(N,L,R,[H|T]) :-
freeze(X, X mod H =\= 0 ; X == H),
findall(X,select(X,T,_),P),
sieve(N,L,[H|R],P).
sieve(_,L,L,[]).
But it stop after some operations and waits forever. Could someone tell me how to correct this?
Ok i found out solution i had to change recursive call in sieve so now i call it in freeze predicate.
as requested
i found clue here Lazy lists in Prolog?
sieve(N,L) :-
sieve(L,Strumien,[]),
numlist(2,N,X),
X = Strumien.
sieve(L,Strumien,X) :-
freeze(Strumien,
( Strumien =[H|T],
filter(H,T,Z),
sieve(L,Z,[H|X])
)).
sieve(L,[],L).
filter(H,S,X) :-
filter(H,S,X,[]).
filter(_,[],X,X).
filter(H,S,X,Y) :-
freeze(S,S =[H1|T]),
( H1 mod H =\= 0 ->
append(Y,[H1],Y2),
filter(H,T,X,Y2)
;
filter(H,T,X,Y)
).
Suppose you have a database with the following content:
son(a, d).
son(b, d).
son(a, c).
son(b, c).
So a and b are sons of d and c. Now you want to know, given a bigger database, who is brother to who. A solution would be:
brother(X, Y) :-
son(X, P),
son(Y, P),
X \= Y.
The problem with this is that if you ask "brother(X, Y)." and start pressing ";" you'll get redundant results like:
X = a, Y = b;
X = b, Y = a;
X = a, Y = b;
X = b, Y = a;
I can understand why I get these results but I am looking for a way to fix this. What can I do?
Prolog will always try to find every possible solution available for your statements considering your set of truths. The expansion works as depth-first search:
son(a, d).
son(b, d).
son(a, c).
son(b, c).
brother(X, Y) :-
son(X, P),
son(Y, P),
X \= Y.
brother(X, Y)
_______________________|____________________________ [son(X, P)]
| | | |
X = a, P = d X = b, P = d X = a, P = c X = a, P = b
| | | |
| ... ... ...
|
| (X and P are already defined for this branch;
| the algorithm now looks for Y's)
|__________________________________________ [son(Y, d)]
| |
son(a, d) -> Y = a son(b, d) -> Y = b
| |
| | [X \= Y]
X = a, Y = a -> false X = a, Y = b -> true
|
|
solution(X = a, Y = b, P = d)
But, as you can see, the expansion will be performed in all the branches, so you'll end up with more of the same solution as the final answer. As pointed by #Daniel Lyons, you may use the setof built-in.
You may also use the ! -- cut operator -- that stops the "horizontal" expansion, once a branch has been found to be valid, or add some statement that avoids the multiple solutions.
For further information, take a look at the Unification algorithm.
First, I would advise against updating the Prolog database dynamically. For some reasons, consider the article
"How to deal with the Prolog dynamic database?".
You could use a combination of the builtin setof/3 and member/2, as #DanielLyons has suggested in his answer.
As yet another alternative, consider the following query which uses setof/3 in a rather unusual way, like this:
?- setof(t,brother(X,Y),_).
X = a, Y = b ;
X = b, Y = a.
You can eliminate one set with a comparison:
brother(X, Y) :-
son(X, P),
son(Y, P),
X \= Y, X #< Y.
?- brother(X, Y).
X = a,
Y = b ;
X = a,
Y = b ;
false.
Since X and Y will be instantiated both ways, requiring X be less than Y is a good way to cut the solutions in half.
Your second problem is that X and Y are brothers by more than one parent. The easiest solution here would be to make your rules more explicit:
mother(a, d).
mother(b, d).
father(a, c).
father(b, c).
brother(X, Y) :-
mother(X, M), mother(Y, M),
father(X, F), father(Y, F),
X \= Y, X #< Y.
?- brother(X, Y).
X = a,
Y = b ;
false.
This method is very specific to this particular problem, but the underlying reasoning is not: you had two copies because a and b are "brothers" by c and also by d—Prolog was right to produce that solution twice because there was a hidden variable being instantiated to two different values.
A more elegant solution would probably be to use setof/3 to get the solutions. This can work even with your original code:
?- setof(X-Y, (brother(X, Y), X #< Y), Brothers).
Brothers = [a-b].
The downside to this approach is that you wind up with a list rather than Prolog generating different solutions, though you can recover that behavior with member/2.
This should work. But I think it can be improved (I am not a Prolog specialist):
brother(X, Y) :-
son(X, P1),
son(Y, P1),
X #< Y,
(son(X, P2), son(Y, P2), P1 #< P2 -> false; true).
If you're using Strawberry Prolog compiler,you won't get all the answers by typing this:
?- brother(X, Y),
write(X), nl,
write(Y), nl.
In order to get all the answers write this:
?- brother(X, Y),
write(X), nl,
write(Y), nl,
fail.
I hope it helps you.:)
I got to an answer.
% Include the dictionary
:- [p1]. % The dictionary with sons
:- dynamic(found/2).
brother(X, Y) :-
% Get two persons from the database to test
son(X, P),
son(Y, P),
% Test if the two persons are different and were not already used
testBrother(X, Y).
% If it got here it's because there is no one else to test above, so just fail and retract all
brother(_, _) :-
retract(found(_, _)),
fail.
testBrother(X, Y) :-
X \= Y,
\+found(X, Y),
\+found(Y, X),
% If they were not used succed and assert what was found
assert(found(X, Y)).
It always returns fails in the end but it succeeds with the following.
brother(X, Y). % Every brother without repetition
brother('Urraca', X). % Every brother of Urraca without repetition
brother('Urraca', 'Sancho I'). % True, because Urraca and Sancho I have the same father and mother. In fact, even if they only had the same mother or the same father it would return true. A little off context but still valid, if they have three or more common parents it would still work
It fails with the following:
brother(X, X). % False because it's the same person
brother('Nope', X). % False because not is not even in the database
brother('Nope', 'Sancho I'). % False, same reason
So like this I can, for example, ask: brother(X, Y), and start pressing ";" to see every brother and sister without any repetition.
I can also do brother(a, b) and brother(b, a), assuming a and b are persons in the database. This is important because some solutions would use #< to test things and like so brother(b, a) would fail.
So there it is.