Claim · 1959-02-09 · event · Stated in source · Supported

Newell, Shaw and Simon's report on the General Problem Solver names means-ends analysis and planning as the two general problem-solving techniques in the program's repertoire.

One recorded claim. The claim panel gives its qualification, the source passages with their place in each source, and how it was checked.

What it connects

Report on a General Problem-Solving Program → uses the name →

Where it appears

No collection page holds this claim. It is listed with its records in the explorer.

Claim and evidence

Report on a General Problem-Solving Programuses the name ↓

Machine-checked, not reviewed by an editorStated in sourceSupported

Supporting evidence: primary · 1 source

Date: 1959-02-09 · event Records dated 1959 →

Scope and limitsIt held the earliest-located role in the candidate pack; that role is withheld until the leads the concept records are read. Found by the recorded search; not evidence that the names began here. The passage names planning as a technique of one program, not a research field. The 1956 Logic Theory Machine paper was read only on its opening pages. Wording attested from the revised summary page of 9 February 1959.

The evidence 01

primary sourceSupports the claim

Report on a General Problem-Solving Program (RAND P-1584)

RAND Corporation (publisher); copy hosted by bitsavers.org · 1958-12-30

Cite the original source

Cite the original document, not Selekoa. Check these details against it.

Paraphrase

The summary lists among the program's major features 'The two general problem-solving techniques that now constitute its repertoire: means-ends analysis, and planning.'

Location in source PDF p. 2 (report p. ii), Summary, item 3

How it was read Retrieved directly from the publisher

Machine-checked · 2026-10-31

Source details and check notes

Authors: A. Newell; J. C. Shaw; H. A. Simon
Version: Retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-10-29 (SHA-256 90c8adde314f87d6ecd649deb76b47cd37dd10709d17e28f1d9c31ea9ecf629c). RAND paper P-1584 dated 30 December 1958, revised 9 February 1959; scanned typescript hosted by bitsavers.org (rand.org refused: HTTP 404/403) The copy read is the revision of 9 February 1959 (its version date); 30 December 1958 is the report’s original cover date and does not date the revised wording.
Version date: 1959-02-09
Canonical address: Open the canonical source ↗
Accessed: 2026-10-29
Language: English (en)
Attribution: A. Newell, J. C. Shaw, H. A. Simon, “Report on a General Problem-Solving Program (RAND P-1584)”, 1958-12-30.
Reuse: No open redistribution licence asserted. Bibliographic metadata, editorial paraphrases and short attributed quotations (at most 50 words each). Recheck terms before wider redistribution.
Check notes: Candidate pack passage, Kinds of AI and technical history (research/technical-history). The paraphrase is Selekoa’s, written from the text retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-10-29; it is not a quotation and was not machine-matched. Transcribed from the page image (no text layer); wording in single quotation marks is as read from the image. A cross-family machine check (31 October 2026, item 91) re-read the record’s sources and found that they support what the record states. Its point that the record is dated by the revised summary, not backdated to the original cover was applied at admission. No human editorial review.

Status and meaning

Editorial status. Not reviewed by an editor. An exploratory record that no editor has accepted. This status does not say whether a person has read any linked passage. Each evidence record above shows how it was checked.

Relation. A passage of the document uses a name for a family of methods or a term, in the sense the concept’s naming criterion describes or, where labelled, in another sense. The record documents the use; it is not evidence that the name began there, and it implies no influence on or from another text.

Date. Date stamped on the revised summary page of RAND paper P-1584, whose wording the record quotes; the report’s original cover date, 30 December 1958, does not date the revised wording.

Record ID th-sp-name-gps-1959