{"id":1306,"date":"2011-07-14T11:42:16","date_gmt":"2011-07-14T11:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/backward-chaining\/"},"modified":"2022-06-28T23:27:39","modified_gmt":"2022-06-28T23:27:39","slug":"backward-chaining","status":"publish","type":"definition","link":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/577\/backward-chaining","title":{"rendered":"Backward Chaining"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span id=\"what_does_backward_chaining_mean\">What Does Backward Chaining Mean?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Backward chaining is an inference method widely used in artificial intelligence, automated theorem provers and proof assistants. Backward chaining methodology can be described as working back from a goal. Many programming languages support backward chaining within their inference engines.<\/p>\n<p>Backward chaining is also referred to as backward reasoning.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"techopedia_explains_backward_chaining\">Techopedia Explains Backward Chaining<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Backward chaining is used in logic programming through selective linear definite clause resolution. It&#039;s one of the most commonly used methods of reasoning with interference rules and logical implication. Backward chaining works backwards from a list of goals to determine whether there is any data to support them. An inference engine that uses backward chaining searches the inference rules until it finds a rule with a consequent that matches the desired goal. If the antecedent of this rule is not known to be true, the rule is added to the list of goals so that data can be found to confirm it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What Does Backward Chaining Mean? Backward chaining is an inference method widely used in artificial intelligence, automated theorem provers and proof assistants. Backward chaining methodology can be described as working back from a goal. Many programming languages support backward chaining within their inference engines. Backward chaining is also referred to as backward reasoning. Techopedia Explains [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7813,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"definitioncat":[243,241,269],"class_list":["post-1306","definition","type-definition","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","definitioncat-artificial-intelligence","definitioncat-computer-science","definitioncat-machine-learning"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.2 (Yoast SEO v24.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What is Backward Chaining? - Definition from Techopedia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of Backward Chaining and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Backward Chaining\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of Backward Chaining and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/577\/backward-chaining\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Techopedia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/techopedia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-06-28T23:27:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@techopedia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/577\/backward-chaining#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/577\/backward-chaining\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Margaret Rouse\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5dd538e31ee352d105b8af36c4268a5\"},\"headline\":\"Backward Chaining\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-07-14T11:42:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-06-28T23:27:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/577\/backward-chaining\"},\"wordCount\":162,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/577\/backward-chaining#respond\"]}],\"articleSection\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/577\/backward-chaining\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/577\/backward-chaining\",\"name\":\"What is Backward Chaining? 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