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C00005 00003	Dear Professor Winston,
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%6S%5 Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, STANFORD UNIVERSITY, Stanford, California 94305
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	Douglas B. Lenat
	Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
	Stanford University
	Stanford, California  94305
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Sincerely,
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Douglas B. Lenat
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.LTR(Dr. Patrick H. Winston)
Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
545 Technology Square
Cambridge, Mass. 02139
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Dear Professor Winston,

Enclosed is my review form and annotated copy of M. Sintzoff's paper,
%2Static Backtracking%*.  Professor Cordell Green, to whom you originally
sent the paper, felt that I should referee it since it falls closer to my
area of interests than his.  I am a doctoral candidate in Computer Science,
in my third year here at Stanford; my dissertation work is in Automatic
Theory Formation.

The paper attacks a reasonable question: how to look at
a problem specified in state variable/ operator formulation where many
operators might apply in any given state, and routinely
transform it into a problem where at most one
operator is applicable in any given state.
Sintzoff provides a partial analysis, and a procedure which often works.
Unfortunately, his presentation of the problem, of his procedure, and of
examples to illustrate that procedure, are all incomprehensible.  Several
hours were wasted deciphering undefined terms and notations.

My recommendation does not fall neatly into one of the four categories on the
review form. I feel that there %2is%* an idea here, and the paper should be
accepted, but only after major revisions.  In addition to those pointed out
in the review form, and those annotated on the paper itself, I have enclosed
four additional sheets to show Sintzoff the kind of "readable" introduction and
concrete example that the paper most lacks.  
If you see fit, please pass these along to him.

Part of the difficulty is with English.
Many constructions are awkward; some of his technical uses for common words
(e.g., Maybe, Weak, Comprise, Help) conflict with standard
usage.  When Sintzoff modifies his presentation
with respect to motivation and simplicity, I shall be happy to re-edit the paper
for minor language errors.

.DBL