Information Retrieval Systems, an Algebraic Approach I¹

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Raś, Zbigniew

Affiliations: Warsaw University

Note: [1] This paper was prepared during my stay at the University of Florida in Gainesville in 1978/79 and presented at the 1979’ CISS in Baltimore, Maryland. A few corrections concerning the introduction and the bibliography were made during my stay at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte in 1979/80.

Abstract: This paper is the first of the three parts of work on the information retrieval systems proposed by Salton (see [24]). The system is defined by the notions of a partially ordered set of requests (A, ⩽), the set of objects X and a monotonic retrieval function U : A → 2X. Different conditions imposed on the set A and a function U make it possible to obtain various classes of information retrieval systems. We will investigate systems in which (A, ⩽) is a partially ordered set, a lattice, a pseudo-Boolean algebra and Boolean algebra. In my paper these systems are called partially ordered information retrieval systems (po-systems) lattice information retrieval systems (l-systems); pseudo-Boolean information retrieval systems (pB-systems) and Boolean information retrieval systems (B-systems). The first part concerns po-systems and 1-systems. The second part deals with pB-systems and B-systems. In the third part, systems with a partial access are investigated. The present part discusses the method for construction of a set of attributes. Problems connected with the selectivity and minimalization of a set of attributes are investigated. The characterization and the properties of a set of attributes are given.

Keywords: Information retrieval, selectivity, attributes, regular attributes, homomorphism

DOI: 10.3233/FI-1981-4306

Journal: Fundamenta Informaticae, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 551-603, 1981