System for storing and manipulating information in an information base

The present invention provides a system for the input, retrieval, manipulation and analysis of stored information in an information base. The system comprises an input device, a storage device, and an output device each capable of handling information base records. Each of the fields of the records is processed to produce a compact symbol or code corresponding to predefined ranges of values of an field. These codes are then stored in correspondence with the records which gave rise to them. The result of this processing is a topological map of the fields of the information base records. These topological maps may be retrieved and later processed to efficiently retrieve stored records, given any general unpreprogrammed query as input to the system. These topological maps may also be utilized in a process to determine correlations among the various fields of the records.