Modeling Information Retrieval with Probabilistic Argumentation Systems

Probabilistic Argumentation Systems (PAS) are a technique for representing uncertainty both symbolically and numerically. It is shown that this technique, which combines symbolic logic and probability, can be used as a general model of information retrieval. PAS provide a dual (symbolic and numerical) interpretation of the logical uncertainty principle, and are a flexible model for integrating various sources of information about query or document contents.