Learning families of algebraic structures from informant

Abstract

We combine computable structure theory and algorithmic learning theory to study learning of families of algebraic structures. Our main result is a model-theoretic characterization of the class $\mathbf{InfEx}_{\cong}$, consisting of the structures whose isomorphism types can be learned in the limit. We show that a family of structures $\mathfrak{K}$ is $\mathbf{InfEx}_{\cong}$-learnable if and only if the structures from $\mathfrak{K}$ can be distinguished in terms of their $\Sigma^{\mathrm{inf}}_2$-theories. We apply this characterization to familiar cases and we show the following: there is an infinite learnable family of distributive lattices; no pair of Boolean algebras is learnable; no infinite family of linear orders is learnable.