Use of a directed acyclic organization structure for selection and execution of consistent subsets of rewrite rules
First Claim
1. A method of organizing a multiplicity of rules used to change selected subject matter from a first state to a preferred state comprising the steps of:
- arranging said multiplicity of rules according to a hierarchy of rules;
associating said multiplicity of rules with a plurality of nodes, and associating selected ones of said plurality of nodes with another plurality of nodes, such that said plurality of nodes and said another plurality of nodes are indicative of levels of said hierarchy of rules; and
defining unique identifiers for each of said plurality of nodes and said another plurality of nodes, said unique identifiers corresponding to individual rules and sets of related rules of said multiplicity of rules for changing said subject matter from said first state to said preferred state.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention discloses the use of a hand-held calculator programmed to teach subject matter such as mathematics in a manner that emulates traditional step-by-step teacher-student teaching methods and shows the important intermediate steps. The method evaluates a selected problem against a master set of possible operations, organized according to a hierarchy that can be applied to the problem and then provides choices of several operations that are applicable or can operate on a selected problem. Importantly, the choices available to the student will not always lead to a solution or simplification of the problem. This allows the student to see the effect of a good choice, as well as a poor choice. If the problem can be operated on further, the results of the previous operations have a new problem or expression to be solved. This repetitive process continues until there are no further operations possible that will move the problem closer to a final solution.
24 Citations
49 Claims
-
1. A method of organizing a multiplicity of rules used to change selected subject matter from a first state to a preferred state comprising the steps of:
-
arranging said multiplicity of rules according to a hierarchy of rules;
associating said multiplicity of rules with a plurality of nodes, and associating selected ones of said plurality of nodes with another plurality of nodes, such that said plurality of nodes and said another plurality of nodes are indicative of levels of said hierarchy of rules; and
defining unique identifiers for each of said plurality of nodes and said another plurality of nodes, said unique identifiers corresponding to individual rules and sets of related rules of said multiplicity of rules for changing said subject matter from said first state to said preferred state. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
-
-
12. A method of organizing a multiplicity of rules used to change selected subject matter from a first state to a preferred state comprising the steps of:
-
arranging said multiplicity of rules according to a hierarchy of rules;
indicating that certain rules of said hierarchy are members of one or more sets with certain of these sets being members of other sets; and
indicating which of these rules and sets can be selected. - View Dependent Claims (13)
-
-
14. A method for changing the state of selected subject matter from a first state to a preferred state comprising the steps of:
-
defining a multiplicity of rules for changing said subject matter from one state to another;
organizing said multiplicity of rules comprising the steps of;
arranging said multiplicity of rules according to a hierarchy or rules, associating said multiplicity of rules with a plurality of nodes, and associating selected ones of said plurality of nodes with another plurality of nodes, such that said plurality of nodes and said another plurality of nodes are indicative of levels of said hierarchy of rules, and defining unique identifiers for each of said nodes of said plurality of nodes and said another plurality of nodes, said unique identifiers corresponding to individual rules or sets of related rules of said multiplicity of rules for changing said subject matter from said first state to said preferred state;
selecting a node from one of said plurality of nodes and said another plurality of nodes for selectively changing said subject matter from said first state to said preferred state;
applying one of said rules associated with said selected node to change said subject matter from said one state to said preferred state. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
-
-
38. A method of operating a hand-held computing device having a display, a processor, a keyboard and memory for teaching procedures for solving mathematical problems comprising the steps of:
-
providing a master group of mathematical operations performable by said processor;
organizing said master group of mathematical operations, said organizing comprising the steps of;
arranging said master group of mathematical operations according to a hierarchy of rules, associating said master group of operations with a plurality of nodes, and associating selected ones of said plurality of nodes with another plurality of nodes, such that said plurality of nodes and said another plurality of nodes are indicative of levels of said hierarchy of said master group of mathematical operations, and defining unique identifiers for each of said plurality of nodes and said another plurality of nodes, said unique identifiers corresponding to individual mathematical operations or sets of related mathematical operations of said master group of mathematical operations for solving mathematical problems;
storing a mathematical problem in memory;
displaying said mathematical problem on said display of said hand-held computing device;
determining a node from one of said another plurality of nodes associated with mathematical operations for solving said mathematical problem;
displaying selected ones of said unique identifiers representative of mathematical operations under said node, said mathematical operations being immediately operable on said selected mathematical problem and not limited to mathematical operations which always lead to a solution of said mathematical problem;
selecting one of said displayed unique identifiers;
applying a mathematical operation represented by said selected unique identifier to said mathematical problem; and
displaying the results of applying said mathematical operation to said mathematical problem. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46, 47, 48, 49)
-
-
45. Further comprising generating a pointer to at least one of said pointers of said array of pointers.
Specification