The logic theory machine-A complex information processing system
Abstract
In this paper we describe a complex information processing system, which we call the logic theory machine, that is capable of discovering proofs for theorems in symbolic logic. This system, in contrast to the systematic algorithms that are ordinarily employed in computation, relies heavily on heuristic methods similar to those that have been observed in . human problem solving activity. The specification is written in a formal language, of the nature of a pseudo-code, that is suitable for coding for digital computers. However, the present paper is concerned exclusively with specification of the system, and not with its realization in a computer. The logic theory machine is part of a program of research to understand complex information processing systems by specifying and synthesizing a substantial variety of such systems for empirical study.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In classical symbolic planning and automated reasoning, success is defined by satisfaction of explicitly specified conditions.
“A similar pattern appears in classical symbolic planning and automated reasoning (Newell and Simon, 1956; Ghallab et al., 2004) where success is defined by satisfaction of explicitly specified conditions.”
From Toward Enactive Artificial Intelligence (2026) · cites this paper as Newell and Simon, 1956
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Artificial Intelligence and Management: The Automation–Augmentation Paradox
Raisch, S., & Krakowski, S. (2021) · Academy of Management Review · doi:10.5465/amr.2018.0072 · Cited by 2,755 · see citing works
Elements of a theory of human problem solving.
Newell, A., Shaw, J. C., & Simon, H. A. (1958) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/h0048495 · Cited by 1,380 · see citing works
Self-citationModeling and remodeling writing
Hayes, J. R. (2012) · Written Communication · doi:10.1177/0741088312451260 · Cited by 893 · see citing works
Human problem solving: The state of the theory in 1970.
Simon, H. A., & Newell, A. (1971) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/h0030806 · Cited by 635 · see citing works
Self-citationProbabilistic models of cognition: exploring representations and inductive biases
Griffiths, T. L., Chater, N., Kemp, C., Perfors, A., & Tenenbaum, J. B. (2010) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2010.05.004 · Cited by 568 · see citing works
Survey on deep learning for radiotherapy
Meyer, P., Noblet, V., Mazzara, C., & Lallement, A. (2018) · Computers in Biology and Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.compbiomed.2018.05.018 · Cited by 302 · see citing works
Kohnke, L., Moorhouse, B. L., & Zou, D. (2023) · Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence · doi:10.1016/j.caeai.2023.100156 · Cited by 309 · see citing works
Working Memory Maturation: Can We Get at the Essence of Cognitive Growth?
Cowan, N. (2016) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/1745691615621279 · Cited by 225 · see citing works
“(The term was also used in computer science by Newell & Simon, 1956.)”
BackgroundMethodWhen Machine Learning Meets Privacy in 6G: A Survey
Sun, Y., Liu, J., Wang, J., Cao, Y., & Kato, N. (2020) · IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials · doi:10.1109/comst.2020.3011561 · Cited by 211 · see citing works
Transformers as Soft Reasoners over Language
Clark, P., Tafjord, O., & Richardson, K. (2020) · Proceedings of the Twenty-Ninth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence · doi:10.24963/ijcai.2020/537 · Cited by 176 · see citing works
Rational use of cognitive resources in human planning
Callaway, F., van Opheusden, B., Gul, S., Das, P., Krueger, P. M., Griffiths, T. L., & Lieder, F. (2022) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-022-01332-8 · Cited by 121 · see citing works
Neural Path Hunter: Reducing Hallucination in Dialogue Systems via Path Grounding
Dziri, N., Madotto, A., Zaïane, O., & Bose, A. J. (2021) · Proceedings of the 2021 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing · doi:10.18653/v1/2021.emnlp-main.168 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Pandey, S., Sharma, S., & Wazir, S. (2022) · International Journal of Information Technology · doi:10.1007/s41870-022-00999-6 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
GSM-Symbolic: Understanding the Limitations of Mathematical Reasoning in Large Language Models
Mirzadeh, I., Alizadeh, K., Shahrokhi, H., Tuzel, O., Bengio, S., & Farajtabar, M. (2024) · arXiv · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2410.05229 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
“Logical reasoning is a critical trait of intelligent systems, and building intelligent systems capable of such reasoning has long been an important goal in artificial intelligence (Newell & Simon, 1956; Marcus, 2003; Brachman & Levesque, 2004; Legg & Hutter, 2007; Pearl, 2014; Chollet, 2019).”
Waluyo, B., & Kusumastuti, S. (2024) · Social Sciences & Humanities Open · doi:10.1016/j.ssaho.2024.101146 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Development and Establishment in Artificial Intelligence
Fleck, J. (1982) · Sociology of the Sciences a Yearbook · doi:10.1007/978-94-009-7729-7_7 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Nakhle, F., & Harfouche, A. L. (2021) · Patterns · doi:10.1016/j.patter.2021.100323 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
“9 In 1956, their program, often cited as the first AI program, 10 was presented at the Dartmouth summer research project on AI conference hosted by John McCarthy and Marvin Minsky 11 during which McCarthy coined the term AI.”
BackgroundLogiqa 2.0—An improved dataset for logical reasoning in natural language understanding
Liu, H., Liu, J., Cui, L., Teng, Z., Duan, N., Zhou, M., & Zhang, Y. (2023) · IEEE/ACM Transactions on Audio Speech and Language Processing · doi:10.1109/taslp.2023.3293046 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Testolin, A. (2024) · Applied Sciences · doi:10.3390/app14020744 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Atkinson, C. F. (2025) · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-5702366/v1 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Poussart, D. (2021) · Éthique publique · doi:10.4000/ethiquepublique.6418 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Toward Enactive Artificial Intelligence
Rafiee, B., & Sutton, R. (2026) · arXiv · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2605.24238
- Authors
- Newell, A., & Simon, H.
- Affiliations
- RAND Corporation (US)
- Venue
- IEEE Transactions on Information Theory
- Published
- 1956-09
- Volume
- 2
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 61-79
- ISSN
- 0018-9448 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2132453167
- Cited by
- 846
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 56 · 2025: 78 · 2024: 76 · 2023: 50 · 2022: 38 · 2021: 37 · 2020: 22 · 2019: 93 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 32 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 15
- FWCI
- 6.55
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- IEEE Transactions on Information Theory (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › AI-based Problem Solving and Planning
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Logic, Reasoning, and Knowledge
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Logic, programming, and type systems
- Keywords
- automated theorem proving, mathematical logic, heuristic search, human problem solving, system specification, pseudocode
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
