Answering questions with artificial intelligence using tabular data

A system to answer a question using a data table, which comprises:

• a computer system comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a computer to cause the computer to:
• receive a user question and a target table containing a target cell corresponding to a target answer for said user question, said target cell corresponding to a target column and a target row;
• generate a first classifier adapted to provide column correlation values reflecting the probability that a given column is said target column;
• generate a second classifier adapted to provide row correlation values reflecting the probability that a given row is said target row;
• apply said first classifier to the columns in the target table to determine a column correlation value for each column;
• apply said second classifier to the rows in the target table to determine a row correlation value for each row;
• and
• suggest as the target cell, a cell having elevated column and row correlation values relative to other cells in the target table.

A computer program product to answer a question using a data table, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a computer to cause the computer to:

• receive, using said computer, a user question and a target table containing a target cell corresponding to a target answer for said user question, said target cell corresponding to a target column and a target row;
• generate, using said computer, a first classifier adapted to provide column correlation values reflecting the probability that a given column is said target column;
• generate, using said computer, a second classifier adapted to provide row correlation values reflecting the probability that a given row is said target row;
• apply, using said computer, said first classifier to the columns in the target table to determine a column correlation value for each column;
• apply, using said computer, said second classifier to the rows in the target table to determine a row correlation value for each row;
• and
• suggest, using said computer, as the target cell, a cell having elevated column and row correlation values relative to other cells in the target table.