Paradigms of Denotational Mathematics for Cognitive Informatics and Cognitive Computing

The abstract, rigorous, and expressive needs in cognitive informatics, intelligence science, software science, and knowledge science lead to new forms of mathematics collectively known as denotational mathematics. Denotational mathematics is a category of expressive mathematical structures that deals with high level mathematical entities beyond numbers and sets, such as abstract objects, complex relations, behavioral information, concepts, knowledge, processes, and systems. Denotational mathematics is usually in the form of abstract algebra that is a branch of mathematics in which a system of abstract notations is adopted to denote relations of abstract mathematical entities and their algebraic operations based on given axioms and laws. Four paradigms of denotational mathematics, known as concept algebra, system algebra, Real-Time Process Algebra (RTPA), and Visual Semantic Algebra (VSA), are introduced in this paper. Applications of denotational mathematics in cognitive informatics and computational intelligence are elaborated. Denotational mathematics is widely applicable to model and manipulate complex architectures and behaviors of both humans and intelligent systems, as well as long chains of inference processes. ∗Address for correspondence: International Center for Cognitive Informatics (ICfCI), Theoretical and Empirical Software Engineering Research Centre (TESERC), Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive, NW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4 2 Y. Wang / Paradigms of Denotational Mathematics for Cognitive Informatics and Cognitive Computing