A decision rule is a logical statement of the type "if [condition], then [decision]." The following is an example of a decision rule experts might use to determine an investment quality rating:

If the year's margin is at least 4.27 percent and the year's ratio of shareholder funds to fixed assets is at least 35.2 percent, then the class of rating is at least lower investment grade (LIG).

The condition in this decision rule is "the year's margin is at least 4.27 percent and the year's ratio of shareholder funds to fixed assets is at least 35.2 percent," while "the class of rating is at least lower investment grade" is the decision part of the rule.

Decision rules give a synthetic, easily understandable, and generalized representation of the knowledge contained in a data set organized in an information table. The table's rows are labeled...