Dendral performs structure elucidation in organic chemistry based on data from a mass spectrometer (which bombards chemical samples with electrons, breaking atomic bonds). Fragments are collected by charge/mass, and relative abundance is plotted as a histogram. The goal is to uniquely identify the chemical structure.

Given:

• Empirical formula for a chemical compound, e.g. C₈ H₁₆ O
• Mass spectrum for that compound, e.g.

  

        O
        |
CH3-CH2-C-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH3

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