In this course, we introduce artificial intelligence, beginning with a brief history of attempts to understand mind and intelligence in philosophy, psychology, and other areas of research.

In an important sense, AI is an old science, tracing its roots back at least to Aristotle. An appreciation of this background is essential for an understanding of the issues addressed in modern research. We also present an overview of some of the important application areas in AI. Our goal in level 1 is to provide both background and motivation for the theory and applications that follow.

Later, in level 2, we'll introduce the research tools for AI problem-solving. These include the predicate calculus presented both as a mathematical system as well as a representation language to describe the essential features of a problem.