Moments and points in an interval‐based temporal logic

Abstract

Abstract This paper develops and explores a first‐order theory of time that appears useful as an underlying framework for a wide range of practical applications in artificial intelligence (AI). In particular, it presents a concise, formal axiomatization of “interval‐based” time as described by Allen and then explores the relationship between interval‐based and point‐based temporal theories in detail. This analysis should be useful to both theoretical and practical work in AI that involves the representation of time, since it shows what distinctions are actually substantive and what arise merely from formalisms being notational variants of one another.