Start date: 1992
People are able to learn many algorithms from worked examples, for example long division and matrix multiplication. In such cases a teacher explains the algorithm to a student by means of working through the steps of one or more examples. LAWE is a computational model of this process which is able to learn an algorithm from a teacher using a spreadsheet like user interface. LAWE has successfully learned matrix multiplication from a single example, and the present tense of French verbs.
This research provides an important insight into how people learn procedures, broadens the notion of the nature of algorithms, and has obvious application in making computers much easier to program.
Page by Kevin H. Sewell
Last updated 24/October/95