Time and time again: The many ways to represent time

International Journal of Intelligent SystemsVolume 6, Issue 4 p. 341-355 Article Time and time again: The many ways to represent time James F. Allen, James F. Allen Department of Computer Science, the University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627Search for more papers by this author James F. Allen, James F. Allen Department of Computer Science, the University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627Search for more papers by this author First published: July 1991 https://doi.org/10.1002/int.4550060403Citations: 150AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Abstract One of the most crucial problems in any computer system that involves representing the world is the representation of time. This includes applications such as databases, simulation, expert systems, and applications of Artificial Intelligence in general. In this brief article, I will give a survey of the basic techniques available for representing time, and then talk about temporal reasoning in a general setting as needed in AI applications. Quite different representations of time are usable depending on the assumptions that can be made about the temporal information to be represented. the most crucial issue is the degree of certainty one can assume. Can one assume that a timestamp can be assigned to each event, or barring that, that the events are fully ordered? Or can we only assume that a partial ordering of events is known? Can events be simultaneous? Can they overlap in time and yet not be simultaneous? If they are not instaneous, do we know the durations of events? Different answers to each of these questions allow very different representations of time. Citing Literature Volume6, Issue4Special Issue: Temporal Reasoning. Part AJuly 1991Pages 341-355 RelatedInformation