In Class Blog

What are the Similarities and Differences between an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and an Expert System(ES).


My last two blogs explain these terms in more detail, but I'd like to define each of these for you so we can conceptually understand each of these terms.

An Artificial Neural Network (ANN), often just called a "neural network" (NN), is a mathematical model or computational model based on biological neural networks. It consists of an interconnected group of artificial neurons and processes information using a connectionist approach to computation.
AND

An expert system is a software program that helps an expert who is knowledgeable in a particular field. An Expert System is applied based on a bank of knowledge and a set of rules for applying the knowledge base to each particular situation that is described to the program.

Similarities
1. Both are systems designed to help define a possible outcome for the user.
2. Both systems get better as more information is imputed into their knowledge base.

Differences
1. ANN's can rely on explicit knowledge while ES's rely on implicit knowledge.

2. ANN's can solve more complex problems that other technologies cannot.