Generating numerical approximations

Power, Richard and Williams, Sandra (2012). Generating numerical approximations. Computational Linguistics, 38(1) pp. 113–134.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1162/COLI_a_00086

Abstract

We describe a computational model for planning phrases like “more than a quarter” and “25.9 per cent” which describe proportions at different levels of precision. The model lays out the key choices in planning a numerical description, using formal definitions of mathematical form (e.g., the distinction between fractions and percentages) and roundness adapted from earlier studies. The task is modeled as a constraint satisfaction problem, with solutions subsequently ranked by preferences (e.g., for roundness). Detailed constraints are based on a corpus of numerical expressions collected in the NUMGEN project, and evaluated through empirical studies in which subjects were asked to produce (or complete) numerical expressions in specified contexts.

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About

• Item ORO ID
• 33170
• Item Type
• Journal Item
• ISSN
• 1530-9312
• Project Funding Details

• Funded Project Name	Project ID	Funding Body
  NUMGEN: Generating intelligent descriptions of numerical quantities for people with different levels of numeracy	ES/F037198/1	ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council)

• Academic Unit or School
• Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) > Computing and Communications
  Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)
• Research Group
• Centre for Research in Computing (CRC)
• Copyright Holders
• © 2012 Association for Computational Linguistics
• Related URLs
• • http://www.mitpressjournals.org/toc/coli...(Other)
• Depositing User
• Sandra Williams