Patent ID: 8645297

Claim:
A method for using predictive modeling of a physical process in order to determine and implement a solution to the physical process, the method comprising: analyzing the physical process to determine relevant physical relationships, observations, data, and outcome probabilities associated with the physical relationships of the physical process; storing representations of the relevant physical relationships, observations, data and outcome probabilities in a memory of a computer; recursively analyzing the stored representations by the computer, and generating at least one tree structure that models the physical process, the tree structure including at least one root node, a plurality of decision nodes, and a plurality of end nodes, wherein the analyzing and generating include partitioning observations at each decision node into probable outcomes using target partitioning, and generating a plurality of other decision nodes based on the target partitioning, and wherein when the target partitioning of a decision node does not achieve a predetermined minimum number of observations, determining a mean of the observations, retaining the mean of the observations at the decision node, and converting the decision node into an end node; determining a solution to the physical process based on criterion variables, by the computer using the tree structure of the physical process to arrive at an end node; and implementing a physical solution to the physical process, the physical solution being based on the determined solution.