
## 5 Is A Single Definition Possible?

In matters of definition, it is difficult to argue that there is an objective sense in which one definition could be considered to be the correct one. Nevertheless, some definitions are clearly more concise, precise and general than others. Furthermore, it is clear that many of the definitions listed above are strongly related to each other and share many common features. If we scan through the definitions pulling out commonly occurring features we find that intelligence:

- Is a property that an individual agent has as it interacts with its environment or environments.

- Is related to the agent's ability to succeed or profit with respect to some goal or objective.

- Depends on how able the agent is to adapt to different objectives and environments.
Putting these key attributes together produces the informal definition of intelligence that we have adopted,
"Intelligence measures an agent's ability to achieve goals in a wide range of environments." S. Legg and M. Hutter Features such as the ability to learn and adapt, or to understand, are implicit in the above definition as these capacities enable an agent to succeed in a wide range of environments. For a more comprehensive explanation, along with a mathematical formalisation of the above definition, see [22] or our forthcoming journal paper.

## References

[1] J. S. Albus. Outline for a theory of intelligence. *IEEE Trans. Systems, Man* and Cybernetics, 21(3):473–509, 1991.

[2] A. Anastasi. What counselors should know about the use and interpretation of psychological tests. *Journal of Counseling and Development*, 70(5):610–615, 1992.

[3] M. Anderson. Intelligence. *MS Encarta online encyclopedia*, 2006. [4] A. Asohan. Leading humanity forward. *The Star*, October 14, 2003.

[5] A. Binet and T. Simon. Methodes nouvelles por le diagnostic du niveai intellectuel des anormaux. *L'Ann´ee Psychologique*, 11:191–244, 1905.