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arXiv · 2601.03845

Formally Explaining Decision Tree Models with Answer Set Programming

Akihiro Takemura·Masayuki Otani·Katsumi Inoue
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Abstract

Decision tree models, including random forests and gradient-boosted decision trees, are widely used in machine learning due to their high predictive performance. However, their complex structures often make them difficult to interpret, especially in safety-critical applications where model decisions require formal justification. Recent work has demonstrated that logical and abductive explanations can be derived through automated reasoning techniques. In this paper, we propose a method for generating various types of explanations, namely, sufficient, contrastive, majority, and tree-specific explanations, using Answer Set Programming (ASP). Compared to SAT-based approaches, our ASP-based method offers greater flexibility in encoding user preferences and supports enumeration of all possible explanations. We empirically evaluate the approach on a diverse set of datasets and demonstrate its effectiveness and limitations compared to existing methods.

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Akihiro Takemura, Masayuki Otani, Katsumi Inoue. 2026-01-07. Formally Explaining Decision Tree Models with Answer Set Programming. https://doi.org/10.4204/eptcs.439.29

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