Knowledge Spaces

Knowledge Spaces offers a rigorous mathematical foundation for various practical systems of knowledge assessment, applied to real and simulated data. The systematic presentation extends research results to new situations, as well as describing how to build the knowledge structure in practice. The book also contains numerous examples and exercises and an extensive bibliography. This interdisciplinary representation of the theory of knowledge spaces will be of interest to mathematically oriented readers in computer science and combinatorics.

Knowledge spaces offer a rigorous mathematical foundation for various practical systems of knowledge assessment. An example is offered by the ALEKS system (Assessment and LEarning in Knowledge Spaces), a software for the assessment of mathematical knowledge. From a mathematical standpoint, knowledge spaces generalize partially ordered sets. They are investigated both from a combinatorial and a stochastic viewpoint. The results are applied to real and simulated data. The book gives a systematic presentation of research and extends the results to new situations. It is of interest to mathematically oriented readers in education, computer science and combinatorics at research and graduate levels. The text contains numerous examples and exercises and an extensive bibliography.