Searching Techniques 1

Module: 3
Searching Techniques

Motivation:
This module 3: will brief about Uninformed Search Methods and Informed Search Methods, search
optimization methods and advanced search techniques.
.
Syllabus:

Lecture Content Duration

no
(Hrs)
Uninformed Search Methods
1 1
Informed Search Methods
2 1
Local Search Methods
3 2
Genetic Algorithm
4 1
Adversarial Search
5 1
Constraint Satisfaction Problems
6 1

7 Applications of all search methods

Real time applications of all search methods.
8 1

Learning Objective:
● Learner should know about various types of uninformed and informed searching techniques.
● Theoretical Background:
Search algorithms are one of the most important areas of Artificial Intelligence. In Artificial
Intelligence, Search techniques are universal problem-solving methods. Problem-solving agents in
AI mostly used these search strategies or algorithms to solve a specific problem. There are many
approaches to traverse the search tree generated during problem solving to achieve desired goal.
Based on the search problems we can classify the search algorithms into uninformed (Blind search)
search and informed search (Heuristic search) algorithms.

o
​ ninformed/Blind Search: The uninformed search does not contain any domain knowledge such as
U
closeness, the location of the goal. It operates in a brute-force way as it only includes information
about how to traverse the tree and how to identify leaf and goal nodes. Uninformed search applies a
way in which search tree is searched without any information about the search space like initial state
operators and test for the goal, so it is also called blind [Link] examines each node of the tree until
it achieves the goal node.

It can be divided into five main types:

o Breadth-first search
o Uniform cost search
o Depth-first search
o Iterative deepening depth-first search
o Bidirectional Search

I​ nformed Search : Informed search algorithms use domain knowledge. In an informed search,
problem information is available which can guide the search. Informed search strategies can find a
solution more efficiently than an uninformed search strategy. Informed search is also called a
Heuristic search.

A heuristic is a way which might not always be guaranteed for best solutions but guaranteed to find a
good solution in reasonable time.

Informed search can solve much complex problem which could not be solved in another way.

An example of informed search algorithms is a traveling salesman problem.

Searching Techniques 3

1. Greedy Search
2. A* Search

● Key Definitions:

A search strategy is defined by picking the order of node expansion. Strategies are evaluated along
the following dimensions:
● Completeness: does it always find a solution if one exists?
● Time complexity: time taken to find solution
● Space complexity: maximum number of nodes in memory
● Optimality: does it always find a least-cost solution?

Time and space complexity are measured in terms of

● b: maximum branching factor (state expanded to yield new states) of the search tree
● d: depth of the least-cost solution
● m: maximum depth of the state space (may be ∞)

Course Content:
Lecture : 1
Uninformed Search Methods

Based on the search problems we can classify the search algorithms into uninformed (Blind
search) search and informed search (Heuristic search) algorithms.

​1. Breadth-first Search:

o Breadth-first search is the most common search strategy for traversing a tree or graph. This
algorithm searches breadthwise in a tree or graph, so it is called breadth-first search.
o BFS algorithm starts searching from the root node of the tree and expands all successor node
at the current level before moving to nodes of next level.
o The breadth-first search algorithm is an example of a general-graph search algorithm.
o Breadth-first search implemented using FIFO queue data structure.

Advantages:

o BFS will provide a solution if any solution exists.

o If there are more than one solutions for a given problem, then BFS will provide the minimal
solution which requires the least number of steps.

Disadvantages:

o It requires lots of memory since each level of the tree must be saved into memory to expand
the next level.
o BFS needs lots of time if the solution is far away from the root node.

o
 ​Example:

In the below tree structure, we have shown the traversing of the tree using BFS algorithm from the
root node S to goal node K. BFS search algorithm traverse in layers, so it will follow the path which
is shown by the dotted arrow, and the traversed path will be:

1. S---> A--->B---->C--->D---->G--->H--->E---->F---->I---->K

Time Complexity: Time Complexity of BFS algorithm can be obtained by the number of nodes
traversed in BFS until the shallowest Node. Where the d= depth of shallowest solution and b is a
node at every state.

T (b) = 1+b2+b3+.......+ bd= O (bd)

Space Complexity: Space complexity of BFS algorithm is given by the Memory size of frontier
which is O(bd).

Completeness: BFS is complete, which means if the shallowest goal node is at some finite depth,
then BFS will find a solution.

Optimality: BFS is optimal if path cost is a non-decreasing function of the depth of the node.

​2. Depth-first Search

o Depth-first search isa recursive algorithm for traversing a tree or graph data structure.
o It is called the depth-first search because it starts from the root node and follows each path to
its greatest depth node before moving to the next path.
o DFS uses a stack data structure for its implementation.
o The process of the DFS algorithm is similar to the BFS algorithm.
Searching Techniques 5

​Note: Backtracking is an algorithm technique for finding all possible solutions using recursion.

Advantage:

o DFS requires very less memory as it only needs to store a stack of the nodes on the path from
root node to the current node.
o It takes less time to reach to the goal node than BFS algorithm (if it traverses in the right
path).

Disadvantage:

o There is the possibility that many states keep re-occurring, and there is no guarantee of
finding the solution.
o DFS algorithm goes for deep down searching and sometime it may go to the infinite loop.

​Example:

In the below search tree, we have shown the flow of depth-first search, and it will follow the order
as:

Root node--->Left node ----> right node.

It will start searching from root node S, and traverse A, then B, then D and E, after traversing E, it
will backtrack the tree as E has no other successor and still goal node is not found. After
backtracking it will traverse node C and then G, and here it will terminate as it found goal node.

o
Completeness: DFS search algorithm is complete within finite state space as it will expand every
node within a limited search tree.

Time Complexity: Time complexity of DFS will be equivalent to the node traversed by the
algorithm. It is given by:

T(n)= 1+ n2+ n3 +.........+ nm=O(nm)

Where, m= maximum depth of any node and this can be much larger than d (Shallowest
solution depth)

Space Complexity: DFS algorithm needs to store only single path from the root node, hence space
complexity of DFS is equivalent to the size of the fringe set, which is O(bm).

Optimal: DFS search algorithm is non-optimal, as it may generate a large number of steps or high
cost to reach to the goal node.

​3. Depth-Limited Search Algorithm:

A depth-limited search algorithm is similar to depth-first search with a predetermined limit.

Depth-limited search can solve the drawback of the infinite path in the Depth-first search. In this
algorithm, the node at the depth limit will treat as it has no successor nodes further.

Depth-limited search can be terminated with two Conditions of failure:

o Standard failure value: It indicates that problem does not have any solution.
o Cutoff failure value: It defines no solution for the problem within a given depth limit.
Searching Techniques 7

Depth-limited search avoids the pitfalls of depth-first search by imposing a cutoff on the maximum
depth of a path. This cutoff can be implemented with a special depth-limited search algorithm, or by
using the general search algorithm with operators that keep track of the depth. For example, on the
map of Romania, there are 20 cities, so we know that if there is a solution, then it must be of length
19 at the longest. We can implement the depth cutoff using operators of the form "If you are in city A
and have travelled a path of less than 19 steps, then generate a new state in city B with a path length
that is one greater." With this new operator set, we are guaranteed to find the solution if it exists, but
we are still not guaranteed to find the shortest solution first: depth-limited search is complete but not
optimal. If we choose a depth limit that is too small, then depth-limited search is not even complete.
The time and space complexity of depth-limited search is similar to depth-first search. It takes O(b')
time and O(bl) space, where l is the depth limit.

Advantages:

Depth-limited search is Memory efficient.

Disadvantages:

o Depth-limited search also has a disadvantage of incompleteness.

o It may not be optimal if the problem has more than one solution.

o
​Example:

Completeness: DLS search algorithm is complete if the solution is above the depth-limit.

Time Complexity: Time complexity of DLS algorithm is O(bℓ).

Space Complexity: Space complexity of DLS algorithm is O(b×ℓ).

Optimal: Depth-limited search can be viewed as a special case of DFS, and it is also not optimal
even if ℓ>d.

​4. Uniform-cost Search Algorithm:

Uniform-cost search is a searching algorithm used for traversing a weighted tree or graph. This
algorithm comes into play when a different cost is available for each edge. The primary goal of the
uniform-cost search is to find a path to the goal node which has the lowest cumulative cost.
Uniform-cost search expands nodes according to their path costs form the root node. It can be used to
solve any graph/tree where the optimal cost is in demand. A uniform-cost search algorithm is
implemented by the priority queue. It gives maximum priority to the lowest cumulative cost.
Uniform cost search is equivalent to BFS algorithm if the path cost of all edges is the same.

Advantages:

o Uniform cost search is optimal because at every state the path with the least cost is chosen.

Disadvantages:

o It does not care about the number of steps involve in searching and only concerned about path
cost. Due to which this algorithm may be stuck in an infinite loop.
Searching Techniques 9

​Example:

Completeness:

Uniform-cost search is complete, such as if there is a solution, UCS will find it.

Time Complexity:

Let C* is Cost of the optimal solution, and ε is each step to get closer to the goal node. Then the
number of steps is = C*/ε+1. Here we have taken +1, as we start from state 0 and end to C*/ε.

Hence, the worst-case time complexity of Uniform-cost search isO(b1 + [C*/ε])/.

Space Complexity:

The same logic is for space complexity so, the worst-case space complexity of Uniform-cost search
is O(b1 + [C*/ε]).

Optimal:

Uniform-cost search is always optimal as it only selects a path with the lowest path cost.

​5. Iterative deepeningdepth-first Search:

The iterative deepening algorithm is a combination of DFS and BFS algorithms. This search
algorithm finds out the best depth limit and does it by gradually increasing the limit until a goal is
found.

o
This algorithm performs depth-first search up to a certain "depth limit", and it keeps increasing the
depth limit after each iteration until the goal node is found.

This Search algorithm combines the benefits of Breadth-first search's fast search and depth-first
search's memory efficiency.

The iterative search algorithm is useful uninformed search when search space is large, and depth of
goal node is unknown.

Depth First Iterative deepening search: The hard part about depth-limited search is picking a good
limit. We picked 19 as an "obvious" depth limit for the Romania problem, but in fact if we studied
the map carefully, we would discover that any city can be reached from any other city in at most 9
steps. This number, known as the diameter of the state space, gives us a better depth limit, which
leads to a more efficient depth-limited search. However, for most problems, we will not know a good
depth limit until we have solved the problem. DFID search is a strategy that sidesteps the issue of
choosing the best depth limit by trying all possible depth limits: first depth 0, then depth 1, then
depth 2, and so on. In effect, iterative deepening combines the benefits of depth-first and
breadth-first search. It is optimal and complete, like breadth-first search, but has only the modest
memory requirements of depth-first search. The order of expansion of states is similar to
breadth-first, except that some states are expanded multiple times. Iterative deepening search may
seem wasteful, because so many states are expanded multiple times. For most problems, however,
the overhead of this multiple expansion is actually rather small. Intuitively, the reason is that in an
exponential search tree, almost all of the nodes are in the bottom level, so it does not matter much
that the upper levels are expanded multiple times.

Number of nodes generated in a depth-limited search to depth d with branching factor b:

NDLS = b0 + b1 + b2 + … + bd-2 + bd-1 + bd
Number of nodes generated in an iterative deepening search to depth d with branching factor b:
NIDS = (d+1)b0 + d b1 + (d-1)b2 + … + 3bd-2 +2bd-1 + 1bd
For b = 10, d = 5,
NDLS = 1 + 10 + 100 + 1,000 + 10,000 + 100,000 = 111,111
NIDS = 6 + 50 + 400 + 3,000 + 20,000 + 100,000 = 123,456
Overhead = (123,456 - 111,111)/111,111 = 11%

In an iterative deepening search, the nodes on the bottom level are expanded once, those on the next
to bottom level are expanded twice, and so on, up to the root of the search tree, which is expanded d
+ 1 times. All together, an iterative deepening search from depth 1 all the way down to depth d
expands only about 11 % more nodes than a single breadth-first or depth-limited search to depth d,
when b = 10. The higher the branching factor, the lower the overhead of repeatedly expanded states,
but even when the branching factor is 2, iterative deepening search only takes about twice as long as
a complete breadth-first search. This means that the time complexity of iterative deepening is still
O(bd), and the space complexity is O(bd). In general, iterative deepening is the preferred search
method when there is a large search space and the depth of the solution is not known.
Searching Techniques 11

function iTERATiVE-DEEPENiNG-SEARCH(praWem) returns a solution sequence

inputs: problem, a problem
for depth <— 0 to oo do
if DEPTH-LlMITED-SEARCH(proWem, depth) succeeds then return its result
end
return failure

Advantages:

o Itcombines the benefits of BFS and DFS search algorithm in terms of fast search and memory
efficiency.

Disadvantages:

o The main drawback of IDDFS is that it repeats all the work of the previous phase.

​Example:

Following tree structure is showing the iterative deepening depth-first search. IDDFS algorithm
performs various iterations until it does not find the goal node. The iteration performed by the
algorithm is given as:

o
1'st Iteration-----> A
2'nd Iteration----> A, B, C
3'rd Iteration------>A, B, D, E, C, F, G
4'th Iteration------>A, B, D, H, I, E, C, F, K, G
In the fourth iteration, the algorithm will find the goal node.

Completeness:

This algorithm is complete is ifthe branching factor is finite.

Time Complexity:

Let's suppose b is the branching factor and depth is d then the worst-case time complexity is O(bd).

Space Complexity:

The space complexity of IDDFS will be O(bd).

Optimal:

IDDFS algorithm is optimal if path cost is a non- decreasing function of the depth of the node.

​6. Bidirectional Search Algorithm:

Bidirectional search algorithm runs two simultaneous searches, one form initial state called as
forward-search and other from goal node called as backward-search, to find the goal node.
Bidirectional search replaces one single search graph with two small subgraphs in which one
starts the search from an initial vertex and other starts from goal vertex. The search stops
when these two graphs intersect each other.
Searching Techniques 13

Bidirectional search can use search techniques such as BFS, DFS, DLS, etc.

Advantages:

o Bidirectional search is fast.

o Bidirectional search requires less memory

Disadvantages:

o Implementation of the bidirectional search tree is difficult.

o In bidirectional search, one should know the goal state in advance.

​Example:

In the below search tree, bidirectional search algorithm is applied. This algorithm divides one
graph/tree into two sub-graphs. It starts traversing from node 1 in the forward direction and starts
from goal node 16 in the backward direction.

The algorithm terminates at node 9 where two searches meet.

Completeness: Bidirectional Search is complete if we use BFS in both searches.

Time Complexity: Time complexity of bidirectional search using BFS is O(bd).

Space Complexity: Space complexity of bidirectional search is O(bd).

Optimal: Bidirectional search is Optimal.

o
 Let’s check the take away from this lecture

Exercise/FA through activity

Debate Activity on primitive uninformed searches / advanced uninformed searches.

Learning from this lecture: Learners will be able to understand various types Uninformed Search
Methods with their performance measure.

Lecture : 2

So far we have talked about the uninformed search algorithms which looked through search space for
all possible solutions of the problem without having any additional knowledge about search space.
But informed search algorithm contains an array of knowledge such as how far we are from the goal,
path cost, how to reach to goal node, etc. This knowledge help agents to explore less to the search
space and find more efficiently the goal node.

The informed search algorithm is more useful for large search space. Informed search algorithm uses
the idea of heuristic, so it is also called Heuristic search.

Heuristics function: Heuristic is a function which is used in Informed Search, and it finds the most
promising path. It takes the current state of the agent as its input and produces the estimation of how
close agent is from the goal. The heuristic method, however, might not always give the best solution,
but it guaranteed to find a good solution in reasonable time. Heuristic function estimates how close a
state is to the goal. It is represented by h(n), and it calculates the cost of an optimal path between the
pair of states. The value of the heuristic function is always positive.

Admissibility of the heuristic function is given as:

1. h(n) <= h*(n)

Here h(n) is heuristic cost, and h*(n) is the estimated cost. Hence heuristic cost should be less
than or equal to the estimated cost.

​Pure Heuristic Search:

Pure heuristic search is the simplest form of heuristic search algorithms. It expands nodes based on
their heuristic value h(n). It maintains two lists, OPEN and CLOSED list. In the CLOSED list, it
places those nodes which have already expanded and in the OPEN list, it places nodes which have
yet not been expanded.

On each iteration, each node n with the lowest heuristic value is expanded and generates all its
successors and n is placed to the closed list. The algorithm continues unit a goal state is found.

In the informed search we will discuss two main algorithms which are given below:

o Best First Search Algorithm(Greedy search)

 Searching Techniques 15

o A* Search Algorithm

​1.) Best-first Search Algorithm (Greedy Search):

Greedy best-first search algorithm always selects the path which appears best at that moment. It is
the combination of depth-first search and breadth-first search algorithms. It uses the heuristic
function and search. Best-first search allows us to take the advantages of both algorithms. With the
help of best-first search, at each step, we can choose the most promising node. In the best first search
algorithm, we expand the node which is closest to the goal node and the closest cost is estimated by
heuristic function, i.e.

1. f(n)= h(n).

Where, h(n)= estimated cost from node n to the goal.

The greedy best first algorithm is implemented by the priority queue.

​Best first search algorithm:

o Step 1: Place the starting node into the OPEN list.
o Step 2: If the OPEN list is empty, Stop and return failure.
o Step 3: Remove the node n, from the OPEN list which has the lowest value of h(n), and
places it in the CLOSED list.
o Step 4: Expand the node n, and generate the successors of node n.
o Step 5: Check each successor of node n, and find whether any node is a goal node or not. If
any successor node is goal node, then return success and terminate the search, else proceed to
Step 6.
o Step 6: For each successor node, algorithm checks for evaluation function f(n), and then
check if the node has been in either OPEN or CLOSED list. If the node has not been in both
list, then add it to the OPEN list.
o Step 7: Return to Step 2.

​Advantages:
o Best first search can switch between BFS and DFS by gaining the advantages of both the
algorithms.
o This algorithm is more efficient than BFS and DFS algorithms.

​Disadvantages:
o It can behave as an unguided depth-first search in the worst case scenario.
o It can get stuck in a loop as DFS.
o This algorithm is not optimal.

​Example:

Consider the below search problem, and we will traverse it using greedy best-first search. At each
iteration, each node is expanded using evaluation function f(n)=h(n) , which is given in the below
table.

o
In this search example, we are using two lists which are OPEN and CLOSED Lists. Following are
the iteration for traversing the above example.

Expand the nodes of S and put in the CLOSED list

Initialization: Open [A, B], Closed [S]

Searching Techniques 17

Iteration 1: Open [A], Closed [S, B]

Iteration 2: Open [E, F, A], Closed [S, B]

: Open [E, A], Closed [S, B, F]

Iteration 3: Open [I, G, E, A], Closed [S, B, F]

: Open [I, E, A], Closed [S, B, F, G]

Hence the final solution path will be: S----> B----->F----> G

Time Complexity: The worst case time complexity of Greedy best first search is O(bm).

Space Complexity: The worst case space complexity of Greedy best first search is O(bm). Where, m
is the maximum depth of the search space.

Complete: Greedy best-first search is also incomplete, even if the given state space is finite.

Optimal: Greedy best first search algorithm is not optimal.

​2.) A* Search Algorithm:

A* search is the most commonly known form of best-first search. It uses heuristic function h(n), and
cost to reach the node n from the start state g(n). It has combined features of UCS and greedy
best-first search, by which it solve the problem efficiently. A* search algorithm finds the shortest
path through the search space using the heuristic function. This search algorithm expands less search
tree and provides optimal result faster. A* algorithm is similar to UCS except that it uses g(n)+h(n)
instead of g(n).

In A* search algorithm, we use search heuristic as well as the cost to reach the node. Hence we can
combine both costs as following, and this sum is called as a fitness number.

At each point in the search space, only those node is expanded which have the lowest value of f(n),
and the algorithm terminates when the goal node is found.

​Algorithm of A* search:

Step1: Place the starting node in the OPEN list.

Step 2: Check if the OPEN list is empty or not, if the list is empty then return failure and stops.

o
Step 3: Select the node from the OPEN list which has the smallest value of evaluation function
(g+h), if node n is goal node then return success and stop, otherwise

Step 4: Expand node n and generate all of its successors, and put n into the closed list. For each
successor n', check whether n' is already in the OPEN or CLOSED list, if not then compute
evaluation function for n' and place into Open list.

Step 5: Else if node n' is already in OPEN and CLOSED, then it should be attached to the back
pointer which reflects the lowest g(n') value.

Step 6: Return to Step 2.

Idea: use an evaluation function f(n) for each node

estimate of "desirability"
Expand most desirable unexpanded node
Implementation:
Order the nodes in fringe in decreasing order of desirability
Special cases:
greedy best-first search
A* search

A* search(Minimizing the total path cost): Greedy search minimizes the estimated cost to the
goal, h(n), and thereby cuts the search cost considerably. Unfortunately, it is neither optimal nor
complete. Uniform-cost search, on the other hand, minimizes the cost of the path so far, g(n); it is
optimal and complete, but can be very inefficient. It would be nice if we could combine these two
strategies to get the advantages of both. Fortunately, we can do exactly that, combining the two
evaluation functions simply by summing them:
f(n) = g(n) + h(n).
Since g(n) gives the path cost from the start node to node n, and h(n) is the estimated cost of the
cheapest path from n to the goal, we have f(n) = estimated cost of the cheapest solution through n.

The restriction is to choose an h function that never overestimates the cost to reach the goal. Such an
h is called an admissible heuristic. Best-first search using f as the evaluation function and an
admissible h function is known as A* search
Searching Techniques 19

function A*-SEARCH( problem) returns a solution or failure

return BEST-FlRST-SEARCH(problem,g + h)
PERFORMANCE EVOLUTION OF A* ALGORITHM
🞂 A* algorithm is Complete algorithm i.e. if there exists a solution then it will return solution
🞂 Time Complexity: Exponential with path length
🞂 Space Complexity: it keeps all generated nodes in memory, so memory is problem
🞂 It is Optimal Algorithm

​Advantages:
o A* search algorithm is the best algorithm than other search algorithms.
o A* search algorithm is optimal and complete.
o This algorithm can solve very complex problems.

​Disadvantages:
o It does not always produce the shortest path as it mostly based on heuristics and
approximation.
o A* search algorithm has some complexity issues.
o The main drawback of A* is memory requirement as it keeps all generated nodes in the
memory, so it is not practical for various large-scale problems.

​ xample:
E
In this example, we will traverse the given graph using the A* algorithm. The heuristic value of all
states is given in the below table so we will calculate the f(n) of each state using the formula f(n)=
g(n) + h(n), where g(n) is the cost to reach any node from start state.
Here we will use OPEN and CLOSED list.

Solution:

o
Initialization: {(S, 5)}

Iteration1: {(S--> A, 4), (S-->G, 10)}

Iteration2: {(S--> A-->C, 4), (S--> A-->B, 7), (S-->G, 10)}

Iteration3: {(S--> A-->C--->G, 6), (S--> A-->C--->D, 11), (S--> A-->B, 7), (S-->G, 10)}

Iteration 4 will give the final result, as S--->A--->C--->G it provides the optimal path with cost 6.

Points to remember:

o A* algorithm returns the path which occurred first, and it does not search for all remaining
paths.
o The efficiency of A* algorithm depends on the quality of heuristic.
o A* algorithm expands all nodes which satisfy the condition f(n)<="" li="">

Complete: A* algorithm is complete as long as:

o Branching factor is finite.

o Cost at every action is fixed.

Optimal: A* search algorithm is optimal if it follows below two conditions:

o Admissible: the first condition requires for optimality is that h(n) should be an admissible
heuristic for A* tree search. An admissible heuristic is optimistic in nature.
o Consistency: Second required condition is consistency for only A* graph-search.

If the heuristic function is admissible, then A* tree search will always find the least cost path.
Searching Techniques 21

Time Complexity: The time complexity of A* search algorithm depends on heuristic function, and
the number of nodes expanded is exponential to the depth of solution d. So the time complexity is
O(b^d), where b is the branching factor.

Space Complexity: The space complexity of A* search algorithm is O(b^d)

Let’s check the take away from this lecture

Exercise
Debate Activity on primitive uninformed searches / informed searches.

Learning from this lecture: Learners will be able to understand various types Informed Search
Methods with their performance measure.

Conclusion
This chapter was introduction to blind search(uninformed search) and heuristic search(Informed
Search).

Lecture : 3 & 4

LOCAL SEARCH METHODS

o Hill climbing algorithm is a local search algorithm which continuously moves in the direction
of increasing elevation/value to find the peak of the mountain or best solution to the problem.
It terminates when it reaches a peak value where no neighbor has a higher value.
o Hill climbing algorithm is a technique which is used for optimizing the mathematical
problems. One of the widely discussed examples of Hill climbing algorithm is
Traveling-salesman Problem in which we need to minimize the distance traveled by the
salesman.
o It is also called greedy local search as it only looks to its good immediate neighbor state and
not beyond that.
o A node of hill climbing algorithm has two components which are state and value.
o Hill Climbing is mostly used when a good heuristic is available.
o In this algorithm, we don't need to maintain and handle the search tree or graph as it only
keeps a single current state.

Hill Climbing Algorithm in Artificial Intelligence

1. Pick a random point in the search space

o
2. Consider all the neighbours of the current state
3. Choose the neighbour with the best quality and move to that state
4. Repeat 2 thru 4 until all the neighbouring states are of lower quality
5. Return the current state as the solution state

In computer science, hill climbing is a mathematical optimization technique which belongs to the
family of local search. It is an iterative algorithm that starts with an arbitrary solution to a problem,
then attempts to find a better solution by incrementally changing a single element of the solution. If
the change produces a better solution, an incremental change is made to the new solution, repeating
until no further improvements can be found.

For example, hill climbing can be applied to the travelling salesman problem. It is easy to find an
initial solution that visits all the cities but will be very poor compared to the optimal solution. The
algorithm starts with such a solution and makes small improvements to it, such as switching the
order in which two cities are visited. Eventually, a much shorter route is likely to be obtained.

Hill climbing is good for finding a local optimum (a solution that cannot be improved by considering
a neighbouring configuration) but it is not necessarily guaranteed to find the best possible solution
(the global optimum) out of all possible solutions (the search space). In convex problems,
hill-climbing is optimal. Examples of algorithms that solve convex problems by hill-climbing
include the simplex algorithm for linear programming and binary search.

The characteristic that only local optima are guaranteed can be cured by using restarts (repeated local
search), or more complex schemes based on iterations, like iterated local search, on memory, like
reactive search optimization and tabu search, or memory-less stochastic modifications, like simulated
annealing.

The relative simplicity of the algorithm makes it a popular first choice amongst optimizing
algorithms. It is used widely in artificial intelligence, for reaching a goal state from a starting node.
Choice of next node and starting node can be varied to give a list of related algorithms. Although
more advanced algorithms such as simulated annealing or tabu search may give better results, in
some situations hill climbing works just as well. Hill climbing can often produce a better result than
other algorithms when the amount of time available to perform a search is limited, such as with
real-time systems. It is an anytime algorithm.

​Features of Hill Climbing:

Following are some main features of Hill Climbing Algorithm:

Searching Techniques 23

o Generate and Test variant: Hill Climbing is the variant of Generate and Test method. The
Generate and Test method produce feedback which helps to decide which direction to move
in the search space.
o Greedy approach: Hill-climbing algorithm search moves in the direction which optimizes
the cost.
o No backtracking: It does not backtrack the search space, as it does not remember the
previous states.

​State-space Diagram for Hill Climbing:

The state-space landscape is a graphical representation of the hill-climbing algorithm which is

showing a graph between various states of algorithm and Objective function/Cost.

On Y-axis we have taken the function which can be an objective function or cost function, and
state-space on the x-axis. If the function on Y-axis is cost then, the goal of search is to find the global
minimum and local minimum. If the function of Y-axis is Objective function, then the goal of the
search is to find the global maximum and local maximum.

​Different regions in the state space landscape:

Local Maximum: Local maximum is a state which is better than its neighbor states, but there is also
another state which is higher than it.

Global Maximum: Global maximum is the best possible state of state space landscape. It has the
highest value of objective function.

Current state: It is a state in a landscape diagram where an agent is currently present.

Flat local maximum: It is a flat space in the landscape where all the neighbor states of current states
have the same value.

o
Shoulder: It is a plateau region which has an uphill edge.

​Types of Hill Climbing Algorithm:

o Simple hill Climbing:
o Steepest-Ascent hill-climbing:
o Stochastic hill Climbing:

​1. Simple Hill Climbing:

Simple hill climbing is the simplest way to implement a hill climbing algorithm. It only evaluates
the neighbor node state at a time and selects the first one which optimizes current cost and set
it as a current state. It only checks it's one successor state, and if it finds better than the current
state, then move else be in the same state. This algorithm has the following features:

o Less time consuming

o Less optimal solution and the solution is not guaranteed

​Algorithm for Simple Hill Climbing:

o Step 1: Evaluate the initial state, if it is goal state then return success and Stop.
o Step 2: Loop Until a solution is found or there is no new operator left to apply.
o Step 3: Select and apply an operator to the current state.
o Step 4: Check new state:

1. If it is goal state, then return success and quit.

2. Else if it is better than the current state then assign new state as a current state.
3. Else if not better than the current state, then return to step2.
o Step 5: Exit.

​2. Steepest-Ascent hill climbing:

The steepest-Ascent algorithm is a variation of simple hill climbing algorithm. This algorithm
examines all the neighboring nodes of the current state and selects one neighbor node which is
closest to the goal state. This algorithm consumes more time as it searches for multiple neighbors

​Algorithm for Steepest-Ascent hill climbing:

o Step 1: Evaluate the initial state, if it is goal state then return success and stop, else make
current state as initial state.
o Step 2: Loop until a solution is found or the current state does not change.

1. Let SUCC be a state such that any successor of the current state will be better than it.
2. For each operator that applies to the current state:

I. Apply the new operator and generate a new state.

II. Evaluate the new state.
III. If it is goal state, then return it and quit, else compare it to the SUCC.
IV. If it is better than SUCC, then set new state as SUCC.
V. If the SUCC is better than the current state, then set current state to SUCC.
Searching Techniques 25

o Step 5: Exit.

​3. Stochastic hill climbing:

Stochastic hill climbing does not examine for all its neighbor before moving. Rather, this search
algorithm selects one neighbor node at random and decides whether to choose it as a current state or
examine another state.

​Problems in Hill Climbing Algorithm:

1. Local Maximum: A local maximum is a peak state in the landscape which is better than each of
its neighboring states, but there is another state also present which is higher than the local maximum.

Solution: Backtracking technique can be a solution of the local maximum in state space landscape.
Create a list of the promising path so that the algorithm can backtrack the search space and explore
other paths as well.

A surface with two local maxima. (Only one of them is the global maximum.) If a hill-climber begins
in a poor location, it may converge to the lower maximum.

Hill climbing will not necessarily find the global maximum, but may instead converge on a local
maximum. This problem does not occur if the heuristic is convex. However, as many functions are
not convex hill climbing may often fail to reach a global maximum. Other local search algorithms try
to overcome this problem such as stochastic hill climbing, random walks and simulated annealing.

Despite the many local maxima in this graph, the global maximum can still be found using simulated
annealing. Unfortunately, the applicability of simulated annealing is problem-specific because it
relies on finding lucky jumps that improve the position. In problems that involve more dimensions,
the cost of finding such a jump may increase exponentially with dimensionality. Consequently, there
remain many problems for which hill climbers will efficiently find good results while simulated
annealing will seemingly run forever without making progress. This depiction shows an extreme case
involving only one dimension.

o
2. Plateau: A plateau is the flat area of the search space in which all the neighbor states of the
current state contains the same value, because of this algorithm does not find any best direction to
move. A hill-climbing search might be lost in the plateau area.

Solution: The solution for the plateau is to take big steps or very little steps while searching, to solve
the problem. Randomly select a state which is far away from the current state so it is possible that the
algorithm could find non-plateau region.

Another problem that sometimes occurs with hill climbing is that of a plateau. A plateau is
encountered when the search space is flat, or sufficiently flat that the value returned by the target
function is indistinguishable from the value returned for nearby regions due to the precision used by
the machine to represent its value. In such cases, the hill climber may not be able to determine in
which direction it should step, and may wander in a direction that never leads to improvement.

Ridges are a challenging problem for hill climbers that optimize in continuous spaces. Because hill
climbers only adjust one element in the vector at a time, each step will move in an axis-aligned
direction. If the target function creates a narrow ridge that ascends in a non-axis-aligned direction (or
if the goal is to minimize, a narrow alley that descends in a non-axis-aligned direction), then the hill
climber can only ascend the ridge (or descend the alley) by zig-zagging. If the sides of the ridge (or
alley) are very steep, then the hill climber may be forced to take very tiny steps as it zig-zags toward
a better position. Thus, it may take an unreasonable length of time for it to ascend the ridge (or
descend the alley).

By contrast, gradient descent methods can move in any direction that the ridge or alley may ascend
or descend. Hence, gradient descent or conjugate gradient method is generally preferred over hill
climbing when the target function is differentiable. Hill climbers, however, have the advantage of not
requiring the target function to be differentiable, so hill climbers may be preferred when the target
function is complex.
Searching Techniques 27

3. Ridges: A ridge is a special form of the local maximum. It has an area which is higher than its
surrounding areas, but itself has a slope, and cannot be reached in a single move.

Solution: With the use of bidirectional search, or by moving in different directions, we can improve
this problem.

​Simulated Annealing:

A hill-climbing algorithm which never makes a move towards a lower value guaranteed to be
incomplete because it can get stuck on a local maximum. And if algorithm applies a random walk, by
moving a successor, then it may complete but not efficient. Simulated Annealing is an algorithm
which yields both efficiency and completeness.

In mechanical term Annealing is a process of hardening a metal or glass to a high temperature then
cooling gradually, so this allows the metal to reach a low-energy crystalline state. The same process
is used in simulated annealing in which the algorithm picks a random move, instead of picking the
best move. If the random move improves the state, then it follows the same path. Otherwise, the

o
algorithm follows the path which has a probability of less than 1 or it moves downhill and chooses
another path.

Artificial neural networks are among the most effective learning methods currently known for certain
types of problems. But BP training algorithm is based on the error gradient descent mechanism that
the weight inevitably fall into the local minimum points. It is well known that simulated annealing
(SA) and genetic algorithm (GA) are two global methods and can then be used to determine the
optimal solution of NP-hard problem. In this paper, due to difficulty of obtaining the optimal solution
in medium and large-scaled problems, a hybrid genetic algorithm (HGA) was also developed. The
proposed HGA incorporates simulated annealing into a basic genetic algorithm that enables the
algorithm to perform genetic search over the subspace of local optima. The two proposed solution
methods were compared on Rosenbrock and Shaffer function global optimal problems, and
computational results suggest that the HGA algorithm have good ability of solving the problem and
the performance of HGA is very promising because it is able to find an optimal or near-optimal
solution for the test problems. To evaluate the performance of the hybrid genetic algorithm-based
neural network, BP neural network is also involved for a comparison purpose. The results compared
with genetic algorithm-based indicated that this method was successful in evolving ANNs

There are certain optimization problems that become unmanageable using combinatorial methods as
the number of objects becomes large. A typical example is the traveling salesman problem, which
belongs to the NP-complete class of problems. For these problems, there is a very effective practical
algorithm called simulated annealing (thus named because it mimics the process undergone by
misplaced atoms in a metal when its heated and then slowly cooled). While this technique is unlikely
to find the optimum solution, it can often find a very good solution, even in the presence of noisy
data.

The traveling salesman problem can be used as an example application of simulated annealing. In
this problem, a salesman must visit some large number of cities while minimizing the total mileage
traveled. If the salesman starts with a random itinerary, he can then pairwise trade the order of visits
to cities, hoping to reduce the mileage with each exchange. The difficulty with this approach is that
while it rapidly finds a local minimum, it cannot get from there to the global minimum.

Simulated annealing improves this strategy through the introduction of two tricks. The first is the
so-called "Metropolis algorithm" (Metropolis et al.1953), in which some trades that do not lower the
mileage are accepted when they serve to allow the solver to "explore" more of the possible space of
solutions. Such "bad" trades are allowed using the criterion that
Searching Techniques 29

where is the change of distance implied by the trade (negative for a "good" trade; positive for a
"bad" trade), is a "synthetic temperature," and is a random number in the interval .
is called a "cost function," and corresponds to the free energy in the case of annealing a metal (in
which case the temperature parameter would actually be the , where is Boltzmann's Constant
and is the physical temperature, in the Kelvin absolute temperature scale). If is large, many
"bad" trades are accepted, and a large part of solution space is accessed. Objects to be traded are
generally chosen randomly, though more sophisticated techniques can be used

Genetic Algorithms
Terminology:
• Fitness function
• Population
• Encoding schemes
• Selection
• Crossover
• Mutation
• Elitism
Flowchart of Genetic Algorithm:
Genetic Algorithms are a form of Artificial Intelligence. They learn by evolving a fit set of solution
to previously specified problem. The fundamental idea behind genetic algorithms is the same idea
behind Darwinian evolution, survival of the fittest. Each potential solution to a problem in a genetic
algorithm is represented by one individual. The fitter individuals are allowed to breed more often. By
allowing fitter individuals to breed more often, the population tends toward the desired solution with
time. This ability to tend towards a solution is comparable to reasoning capability.
Genetic programming is problem-independent in the sense that the flowchart specifying the basic
sequence of executional steps is not modified for each new run or each new problem.
There is usually no discretionary human intervention or interaction during a run of genetic
programming (although a human user may exercise judgment as to whether to terminate a run).
The figure below is a flowchart showing the executional steps of a run of genetic programming. The
flowchart shows the genetic operations of crossover, reproduction, and mutation as well as the
architecture-altering operations. This flowchart shows a two-offspring version of the crossover
operation.

o
Let’s check the take away from this lecture
Searching Techniques 31

Exercise
Q.1…………..not local search algorithm
(a) A*
(b) Hill Climbing
(c) Simulated Hill Climbing
(d) Genetic Algorithm
Q.2 Hill climbing cannot get stuck due to which of the following phenomenon?
(a) Local Maxima
(b) Inadmissible heuristic
(c )Ridges
( d)Plateau
Q.3………………..is not a term of Genetic Algorithm.
(a) Selection
(b)Crossover
(c)Mutation
(d) Successor function

Learning from this lecture: Learners will be able to understand various optimization algorithm
techniques.

Lecture : 6
Adversarial Search

Adversarial search is a search, where we examine the problem which arises when we try to
plan ahead of the world and other agents are planning against us.

o In previous topics, we have studied the search strategies which are only associated with a
single agent that aims to find the solution which often expressed in the form of a sequence of
actions.
o But, there might be some situations where more than one agent is searching for the solution
in the same search space, and this situation usually occurs in game playing.
o The environment with more than one agent is termed as multi-agent environment, in which
each agent is an opponent of other agent and playing against each other. Each agent needs to
consider the action of other agent and effect of that action on their performance.
o So, Searches in which two or more players with conflicting goals are trying to explore
the same search space for the solution, are called adversarial searches, often known as
Games.
o Games are modeled as a Search problem and heuristic evaluation function, and these are the
two main factors which help to model and solve games in AI.

o
​Types of Games in AI:

Deterministic Chance Moves

Perfect information Chess, Checkers, go, Othello Backgammon, monopoly

Imperfect information Battleships, blind, tic-tac-toe Bridge, poker, scrabble, nuclear war

o Perfect information: A game with the perfect information is that in which agents can look
into the complete board. Agents have all the information about the game, and they can see
each other moves also. Examples are Chess, Checkers, Go, etc.
o Imperfect information: If in a game agents do not have all information about the game and
not aware with what's going on, such type of games are called the game with imperfect
information, such as tic-tac-toe, Battleship, blind, Bridge, etc.
o Deterministic games: Deterministic games are those games which follow a strict pattern and
set of rules for the games, and there is no randomness associated with them. Examples are
chess, Checkers, Go, tic-tac-toe, etc.
o Non-deterministic games: Non-deterministic are those games which have various
unpredictable events and has a factor of chance or luck. This factor of chance or luck is
introduced by either dice or cards. These are random, and each action response is not fixed.
Such games are also called as stochastic games.
Example: Backgammon, Monopoly, Poker, etc.

​Note: In this topic, we will discuss deterministic games, fully observable environment, zero-sum, and
where each agent acts alternatively.

​Zero-Sum Game
o Zero-sum games are adversarial search which involves pure competition.
o In Zero-sum game each agent's gain or loss of utility is exactly balanced by the losses or
gains of utility of another agent.
o One player of the game try to maximize one single value, while other player tries to minimize
it.
o Each move by one player in the game is called as ply.
o Chess and tic-tac-toe are examples of a Zero-sum game.

​Zero-sum game: Embedded thinking

The Zero-sum game involved embedded thinking in which one agent or player is trying to figure out:

o What to do.
o How to decide the move
o Needs to think about his opponent as well
o The opponent also thinks what to do

Each of the players is trying to find out the response of his opponent to their actions. This requires
embedded thinking or backward reasoning to solve the game problems in AI.
Searching Techniques 33

​Formalization of the problem:

A game can be defined as a type of search in AI which can be formalized of the following
elements:

o Initial state: It specifies how the game is set up at the start.

o Player(s): It specifies which player has moved in the state space.
o Action(s): It returns the set of legal moves in state space.
o Result(s, a): It is the transition model, which specifies the result of moves in the state space.
o Terminal-Test(s): Terminal test is true if the game is over, else it is false at any case. The
state where the game ends is called terminal states.
o Utility(s, p): A utility function gives the final numeric value for a game that ends in terminal
states s for player p. It is also called payoff function. For Chess, the outcomes are a win, loss,
or draw and its payoff values are +1, 0, ½. And for tic-tac-toe, utility values are +1, -1, and 0.

​Game tree:

A game tree is a tree where nodes of the tree are the game states and Edges of the tree are the moves
by players. Game tree involves initial state, actions function, and result Function.

Example: Tic-Tac-Toe game tree:

The following figure is showing part of the game-tree for tic-tac-toe game. Following are some key
points of the game:

o There are two players MAX and MIN.

o Players have an alternate turn and start with MAX.
o MAX maximizes the result of the game tree
o MIN minimizes the result.

o
Example Explanation:

o From the initial state, MAX has 9 possible moves as he starts first. MAX place x and MIN
place o, and both player plays alternatively until we reach a leaf node where one player has
three in a row or all squares are filled.
o Both players will compute each node, minimax, the minimax value which is the best
achievable utility against an optimal adversary.
o Suppose both the players are well aware of the tic-tac-toe and playing the best play. Each
player is doing his best to prevent another one from winning. MIN is acting against Max in
the game.
o So in the game tree, we have a layer of Max, a layer of MIN, and each layer is called as Ply.
Max place x, then MIN puts o to prevent Max from winning, and this game continues until
the terminal node.
o In this either MIN wins, MAX wins, or it's a draw. This game-tree is the whole search space
of possibilities that MIN and MAX are playing tic-tac-toe and taking turns alternately.

Hence adversarial Search for the minimax procedure works as follows:

o It aims to find the optimal strategy for MAX to win the game.
o It follows the approach of Depth-first search.
o In the game tree, optimal leaf node could appear at any depth of the tree.
o Propagate the minimax values up to the tree until the terminal node discovered.
Searching Techniques 35

In a given game tree, the optimal strategy can be determined from the minimax value of each node,
which can be written as MINIMAX(n). MAX prefer to move to a state of maximum value and MIN
prefer to move to a state of minimum value then:

Mini-Max Algorithm in Artificial Intelligence

o Mini-max algorithm is a recursive or backtracking algorithm which is used in

decision-making and game theory. It provides an optimal move for the player assuming that
opponent is also playing optimally.

o Mini-Max algorithm uses recursion to search through the game-tree.

o Min-Max algorithm is mostly used for game playing in AI. Such as Chess, Checkers,
tic-tac-toe, go, and various tow-players game. This Algorithm computes the minimax
decision for the current state.

o In this algorithm two players play the game, one is called MAX and other is called MIN.

o Both the players fight it as the opponent player gets the minimum benefit while they get the
maximum benefit.

o Both Players of the game are opponent of each other, where MAX will select the maximized
value and MIN will select the minimized value.

o The minimax algorithm performs a depth-first search algorithm for the exploration of the
complete game tree.

o The minimax algorithm proceeds all the way down to the terminal node of the tree, then
backtrack the tree as the recursion.

​Pseudo-code for MinMax Algorithm:

1. function minimax(node, depth, maximizingPlayer) is
2. if depth ==0 or node is a terminal node then
3. return static evaluation of node
4.
5. if MaximizingPlayer then // for Maximizer Player

o
 6. maxEva= -infinity
7. for each child of node do
8. eva= minimax(child, depth-1, false)
9. maxEva= max(maxEva,eva) //gives Maximum of the values
10. return maxEva
11.
12. else // for Minimizer player
13. minEva= +infinity
14. for each child of node do
15. eva= minimax(child, depth-1, true)
16. minEva= min(minEva, eva) //gives minimum of the values
17. return minEva

Initial call:

Minimax(node, 3, true)

​Working of Min-Max Algorithm:

o The working of the minimax algorithm can be easily described using an example. Below we
have taken an example of game-tree which is representing the two-player game.

o In this example, there are two players one is called Maximizer and other is called Minimizer.

o Maximizer will try to get the Maximum possible score, and Minimizer will try to get the
minimum possible score.

o This algorithm applies DFS, so in this game-tree, we have to go all the way through the
leaves to reach the terminal nodes.

o At the terminal node, the terminal values are given so we will compare those value and
backtrack the tree until the initial state occurs. Following are the main steps involved in
solving the two-player game tree:

Step-1: In the first step, the algorithm generates the entire game-tree and apply the utility function to
get the utility values for the terminal states. In the below tree diagram, let's take A is the initial state
of the tree. Suppose maximizer takes first turn which has worst-case initial value =- infinity, and
minimizer will take next turn which has worst-case initial value = +infinity.
Searching Techniques 37

Step 2: Now, first we find the utilities value for the Maximizer, its initial value is -∞, so we will
compare each value in terminal state with initial value of Maximizer and determines the higher nodes
values. It will find the maximum among the all.

o For node D max(-1,- -∞) => max(-1,4)= 4

o For Node E max(2, -∞) => max(2, 6)= 6

o For Node F max(-3, -∞) => max(-3,-5) = -3

o For node G max(0, -∞) = max(0, 7) = 7

o
Step 3: In the next step, it's a turn for minimizer, so it will compare all nodes value with +∞, and will
find the 3rd layer node values.

o For node B= min(4,6) = 4

o For node C= min (-3, 7) = -3

Searching Techniques 39

Step 3: Now it's a turn for Maximizer, and it will again choose the maximum of all nodes value and
find the maximum value for the root node. In this game tree, there are only 4 layers, hence we reach
immediately to the root node, but in real games, there will be more than 4 layers.

o For node A max(4, -3)= 4

o
That was the complete workflow of the minimax two player game.

​Properties of Mini-Max algorithm:

o Complete- Min-Max algorithm is Complete. It will definitely find a solution (if exist), in the
finite search tree.

o Optimal- Min-Max algorithm is optimal if both opponents are playing optimally.

o Time complexity- As it performs DFS for the game-tree, so the time complexity of Min-Max
algorithm is O(bm), where b is branching factor of the game-tree, and m is the maximum
depth of the tree.

o Space Complexity- Space complexity of Mini-max algorithm is also similar to DFS which
is O(bm).

​Limitation of the minimax Algorithm:

The main drawback of the minimax algorithm is that it gets really slow for complex games such as
Chess, go, etc. This type of games has a huge branching factor, and the player has lots of choices to
decide. This limitation of the minimax algorithm can be improved from alpha-beta pruning which
we have discussed in the next topic.
Searching Techniques 41

o Alpha-Beta Pruning
o Alpha-beta pruning is a modified version of the minimax algorithm. It is an optimization
technique for the minimax algorithm.
o As we have seen in the minimax search algorithm that the number of game states it has to
examine are exponential in depth of the tree. Since we cannot eliminate the exponent, but we
can cut it to half. Hence there is a technique by which without checking each node of the
game tree we can compute the correct minimax decision, and this technique is
called pruning. This involves two threshold parameter Alpha and beta for future expansion,
so it is called alpha-beta pruning. It is also called as Alpha-Beta Algorithm.
o Alpha-beta pruning can be applied at any depth of a tree, and sometimes it not only prune the
tree leaves but also entire sub-tree.
o The two-parameter can be defined as:

1. Alpha: The best (highest-value) choice we have found so far at any point along the
path of Maximizer. The initial value of alpha is -∞.
2. Beta: The best (lowest-value) choice we have found so far at any point along the path
of Minimizer. The initial value of beta is +∞.
o The Alpha-beta pruning to a standard minimax algorithm returns the same move as the
standard algorithm does, but it removes all the nodes which are not really affecting the final
decision but making algorithm slow. Hence by pruning these nodes, it makes the algorithm
fast.

​Note: To better understand this topic, kindly study the minimax algorithm.

​Condition for Alpha-beta pruning:

The main condition which required for alpha-beta pruning is:

1. α>=β

​Key points about alpha-beta pruning:

o The Max player will only update the value of alpha.
o The Min player will only update the value of beta.
o While backtracking the tree, the node values will be passed to upper nodes instead of values
of alpha and beta.
o We will only pass the alpha, beta values to the child nodes.

​Pseudo-code for Alpha-beta Pruning:

1. function minimax(node, depth, alpha, beta, maximizingPlayer) is
2. if depth ==0 or node is a terminal node then
3. return static evaluation of node
4.
5. if MaximizingPlayer then // for Maximizer Player
6. maxEva= -infinity
7. for each child of node do
8. eva= minimax(child, depth-1, alpha, beta, False)
9. maxEva= max(maxEva, eva)
10. alpha= max(alpha, maxEva)

o
 11. if beta<=alpha
12. break
13. return maxEva
14.
15. else // for Minimizer player
16. minEva= +infinity
17. for each child of node do
18. eva= minimax(child, depth-1, alpha, beta, true)
19. minEva= min(minEva, eva)
20. beta= min(beta, eva)
21. if beta<=alpha
22. break
23. return minEva

​Working of Alpha-Beta Pruning:

Let's take an example of two-player search tree to understand the working of Alpha-beta pruning

Step 1: At the first step the, Max player will start first move from node A where α= -∞ and β= +∞,
these value of alpha and beta passed down to node B where again α= -∞ and β= +∞, and Node B
passes the same value to its child D.

Step 2: At Node D, the value of α will be calculated as its turn for Max. The value of α is compared
with firstly 2 and then 3, and the max (2, 3) = 3 will be the value of α at node D and node value will
also 3.
Searching Techniques 43

Step 3: Now algorithm backtrack to node B, where the value of β will change as this is a turn of
Min, Now β= +∞, will compare with the available subsequent nodes value, i.e. min (∞, 3) = 3, hence
at node B now α= -∞, and β= 3.

In the next step, algorithm traverse the next successor of Node B which is node E, and the values of
α= -∞, and β= 3 will also be passed.

Step 4: At node E, Max will take its turn, and the value of alpha will change. The current value of
alpha will be compared with 5, so max (-∞, 5) = 5, hence at node E α= 5 and β= 3, where α>=β, so
the right successor of E will be pruned, and algorithm will not traverse it, and the value at node E
will be 5.

o
Step 5: At next step, algorithm again backtrack the tree, from node B to node A. At node A, the
value of alpha will be changed the maximum available value is 3 as max (-∞, 3)= 3, and β= +∞,
these two values now passes to right successor of A which is Node C.

At node C, α=3 and β= +∞, and the same values will be passed on to node F.

Step 6: At node F, again the value of α will be compared with left child which is 0, and max(3,0)= 3,
and then compared with right child which is 1, and max(3,1)= 3 still α remains 3, but the node value
of F will become 1.
Searching Techniques 45

Step 7: Node F returns the node value 1 to node C, at C α= 3 and β= +∞, here the value of beta will
be changed, it will compare with 1 so min (∞, 1) = 1. Now at C, α=3 and β= 1, and again it satisfies
the condition α>=β, so the next child of C which is G will be pruned, and the algorithm will not
compute the entire sub-tree G.

o
Step 8: C now returns the value of 1 to A here the best value for A is max (3, 1) = 3. Following is the
final game tree which is the showing the nodes which are computed and nodes which has never
computed. Hence the optimal value for the maximizer is 3 for this example.
Searching Techniques 47

​Move Ordering in Alpha-Beta pruning:

The effectiveness of alpha-beta pruning is highly dependent on the order in which each node is
examined. Move order is an important aspect of alpha-beta pruning.

It can be of two types:

o Worst ordering: In some cases, alpha-beta pruning algorithm does not prune any of the
leaves of the tree, and works exactly as minimax algorithm. In this case, it also consumes
more time because of alpha-beta factors, such a move of pruning is called worst ordering. In
this case, the best move occurs on the right side of the tree. The time complexity for such an
order is O(bm).
o Ideal ordering: The ideal ordering for alpha-beta pruning occurs when lots of pruning
happens in the tree, and best moves occur at the left side of the tree. We apply DFS hence it
first search left of the tree and go deep twice as minimax algorithm in the same amount of
time. Complexity in ideal ordering is O(bm/2).

​Rules to find good ordering:

Following are some rules to find good ordering in alpha-beta pruning:

o Occur the best move from the shallowest node.

o Order the nodes in the tree such that the best nodes are checked first.

o
 o Use domain knowledge while finding the best move. Ex: for Chess, try order: captures first,
then threats, then forward moves, backward moves.
o We can bookkeep the states, as there is a possibility that states may repeat.

Let’s check the take away from this lecture

Exercise
Q. 1. Which search is equal to minimax search but eliminates the branches that can’t influence the
final decision?
a) Depth-first search
b) Breadth-first search
c) Alpha-beta pruning
d) None of the mentioned

Q.2 To which depth does the alpha-beta pruning can be applied?

a) 10 states
b) 8 States
c) 6 States
d) Any depth

Q.3 Which value is assigned to alpha and beta in the alpha-beta pruning?
a) Alpha = max
b) Beta = min
c) Beta = max
d) Both Alpha = max & Beta = min

Learning from this lecture: Learners will be able to understand theory behind two player game
theory

Lecture : 7
Constraint Satisfaction Problem
Constraint satisfaction problems, or CSPs for short, are a flexible approach to searching that have
proven useful in many AI-style problems
CSPs can be used to solve problems such as

● graph-coloring: given a graph, the a coloring of the graph means assigning each of its
vertices a color such that no pair of vertices connected by an edge have the same color
o in general, this is a very hard problem, e.g. determining if a graph can be colored with
3 colors is NP-hard
o many problems boil down to graph coloring, or related problems
● job shop scheduling: e.g. suppose you need to complete a set of tasks, each of which have a
duration, and constraints upon when they start and stop (e.g. task c can’t start until both task a
and task b are finished)
Searching Techniques 49

o CSPs are a natural way to express such problems

● cryptarithmetic puzzles: e.g. suppose you are told that TWO + TWO = FOUR, and each of
the letters corresponds to a different digit from 0 to 9, and that a number can’t start with 0 (so
T and F are not 0); what, if any, are the possible values for the letters?
o while these are not directly useful problems, they are a simple test case for CSP
solvers

the basic idea is to have a set of variables that can be assigned values in a constrained way
a CSP consists of three main components:

● XX: a set of variables {X1,…,Xn}{X1,…,Xn}

● DD: a set of domains {D1,…,Dn}{D1,…,Dn}, one domain per variable
o i.e. the domain of XiXi is DiDi, which means that XiXi can only be assigned values
from DiDi
o we’re only going to consider finite domains; you can certainly have CSPs with
infinite domains (e.g. real numbers), but we won’t consider such problems here
● CC is a set of constraints that specify allowable assignments of values to variables
o for example, a binary constraint consists of a pair of different
variables, (Xi,Xj)(Xi,Xj), and a set of pairs of values that XiXi and XjXj can take on
at the same time
o we will usually only deal with binary constraints; constraints between three or more
variables are possible (e.g. Xi,Xj,XkXi,Xj,Xk are all different), but they don’t occur
too frequently, and can be decomposed into binary constraints

example 1: suppose we have a CSP as follows:

● three variables X1X1, X2X2, and X3X3

● domains: D1={1,2,3,4}D1={1,2,3,4}, D2={2,3,4}D2={2,3,4}, D3={3,7}D3={3,7}
o so X1X1 can only be assigned one of the values 1, 2, 3, or 4
● constraints: no pair of variables have the same value, i.e. X1≠X2X1≠X2, X1≠X3X1≠X3,
and X2≠X3X2≠X3; we can explicitly describe each of these constraints as a relation between
the two variables where the pairs show the allowed values that the variables can be
simultaneously assigned, i.e.
o X1≠X2={(1,2),(1,3),(1,4),(2,3),(2,4),(3,2),(3,4),(4,2),(4,3)}X1≠X2={(1,2),(1,3),(1,4),
(2,3),(2,4),(3,2),(3,4),(4,2),(4,3)}
o X1≠X3={(1,3),(1,7),(2,3),(2,7),(3,7),(4,3),(4,7)}X1≠X3={(1,3),(1,7),(2,3),(2,7),(3,7),
(4,3),(4,7)}
o X2≠X3={(2,3),(2,7),(3,7),(4,3),(4,7)}X2≠X3={(2,3),(2,7),(3,7),(4,3),(4,7)}

these three constraints are each binary constraints because they each constrain 2 variables
example 2: suppose we have the same variables and domains as in the previous example, but now
the constraints are X1<X2X1<X2 and X2+X3≤5X2+X3≤5

● domains: D1={1,2,3,4}D1={1,2,3,4}, D2={2,3,4}D2={2,3,4}, D3={3,7}D3={3,7}

● both of the constraints are binary constraints, because they each involve two variables
● X1<X2={(1,2),(1,3),(1,4),(2,3),(2,4),(3,4)}X1<X2={(1,2),(1,3),(1,4),(2,3),(2,4),(3,4)}
● X2+X3≤9={(2,3),(3,3)}X2+X3≤9={(2,3),(3,3)}

by looking at the constraints for this problem, we note the following:

o
 ● the only possible value for X3X3 is 3, because 3 is the only value for X3X3 in the
constraint X2+X3≤9X2+X3≤9
● we can also see the constraint X2+X3≤9X2+X3≤9 that X2X2 cannot be 4; so in the
constraint X1<X2X1<X2 we can discard all pairs whose second value is 4,
giving: X1<X2={(1,2),(1,3),(2,3)}X1<X2={(1,2),(1,3),(2,3)}
● so the final solutions to this problem
are: (X1=1,X2=1,X3=3)(X1=1,X2=1,X3=3), (X1=1,X2=3,X3=3)(X1=1,X2=3,X3=3), (X1=2
,X2=3,X3=3)(X1=2,X2=3,X3=3)

example 3: suppose we have the same variables and domains as in the previous example, but now
with the two constraints X1+X2=X3X1+X2=X3, and X1X1 is even

● domains: D1={1,2,3,4}D1={1,2,3,4}, D2={2,3,4}D2={2,3,4}, D3={3,7}D3={3,7}

● X1+X2=X3X1+X2=X3 is a ternary constraint, because it involves 3 variables
● X1+X2=X3={(1,2,3),(3,4,7),(4,3,7)}X1+X2=X3={(1,2,3),(3,4,7),(4,3,7)}
● X1X1 is even is a unary constraint, because it involves one variable
● X1X1 is even ={2,4}={2,4}
● looking at the triples in X1+X2=X3X1+X2=X3, the only one where X_1 is even
is (4,3,7)(4,3,7), and so the only solution to his problem
is (X1=4,X2=3,X3=7)(X1=4,X2=3,X3=7)

● variables can be assigned, or unassigned

● if a CSP has some variables assigned, and those assignments don’t violate any constraints, we
say the CSP is consistent, or that it is satisfied
o that partial sets of CSP variable can be satisfied is an important part of many CSP
algorithms that work by satisfying one variable at a time
● if all the variables of a CSP are assigned a value, we call that a complete assignment
● a solution to a CSP complete assignment that is consistent, i.e. a complete assignment that
does not violate any constraints
● depending on the constraints, a CSP may have 0, 1, or many solutions
o a CSP with no solutions is sometimes referred to as over-constrained
o a CSP with many solutions is sometimes referred to as under-constrained
● depending upon the problem being solved and its application, we may want just 1 solution, or
we might want multiple solutions
o for over-constrained CSPs, we may even be satisfied with a solution that violates the
fewest constraints
● if a domain is empty, then the CSP is no solution
● if a domain has only one value, then that is the only possible value for the corresponding
variable
● the size of the search space for a CSP is |D1|⋅|D2|⋅…⋅|Dn||D1|⋅|D2|⋅…⋅|Dn|
o this is the number of n-tuples that the CSP is searching through
o this is often a quick and easy way to estimate the potential difficulty of a CSP: the
bigger the search space, the harder the problem might be
▪ this is just a rule of thumb: it’s quite possible that a problem with a large
search space is easier than a problem with s small search space, perhaps
because there are many more solutions to be found in the large search space

o Constraint Propagation: Arc Consistency

as mentioned above, we are only considering CSPs with finite domains, and with binary constraints
between variables
Searching Techniques 51

it turns out that many such CSPs can be translated into a simpler CSP that is guaranteed to have the
same solutions
the idea we will consider here is arc consistency
the CSP variable XiXi is said to be arc consistent with respect to variable XjXj if for every value
in DiDi there is at least one corresponding value in DjDj that satisfies the binary constraint
on XiXi and XjXj
an entire CSP is said to be arc consistent if every variable is arc consistent with every other variable
if a CSP is not arc consistent, then it turns out that there are relatively efficient algorithms that will
make it arc consistent

● and the resulting arc consistent CSP will have the same solutions as the original CSP, but
often a smaller search space
● for some problems, making a CSP arc consistent may be all that is necessary to solve it
● Let’s check the take away from this lecture

Exercise
Q.1 Which of the Following problems can be modeled as CSP?
a) 8-Puzzle problem
b) 8-Queen problem
c) Map coloring problem
d) All of the mentioned

Learning from this lecture: Learners will be able to understand real world constraint
satisfaction problem

Short Answer Questions:

Q.1 Prove the admissibility of A*.
Q.2 Give an example heuristics function for 8 puzzle problem.
Q.3 Find the heuristic value or particular state of the block word problem.
Q.4 Differentiate between Greedy Best First Search and A* method.
Q.5 Discuss for which type of applications by biderectional search can be used.
Q.6 Write a short note on Simulated Annealing.
Q.7 Discuss any CSP problem.

Long Answer Questions:

Q.1 Consider the graph given in Fig 1 below. Assume the initial state is S and goal state is 7. Find a
path from initial state to goal state using A* search. Also report the solution cost. The straight line
distance heuristic estimates for the nodes are as follows: h(1)=14 h(2)=10 h(3)=8 h(4)=12
h(5)=10 h(6)=10 h(7)=15.

o
Q.2 Invent a heuristic function for the 8-puzzle that sometimes overestimates, and show
how it can lead to a suboptimal solution on a particular problem.
Q.3 Compare different uninformed strategies with example Graph and performance measure.
Q.4 Consider the graph below. Assume initial A and goal G. Show how
A* would create a search tree to find a path. At each step of the
algorithm show which node is being expanded and content of fringe
(OPEN). Report solution and cost. Assume h(sld) heuristic as h(S)=13,
h(A)=7, h(B)=9, h(C)=11, h(D)=2, h(E)=4, h(F)=1, h(G

Q.5 Compare different informed strategies with example Graph and

performance measure.
Q.6 Consider an 8 puzzle problem with following initial and goal states.

7 2 4
5 6
8 3 1
1 2
3 4 5
6 7 8

Successors at next two levels. Apply no. of misplaced tiles as the heuristic function. Which successor
nodes will be selected at each level if we apply Hill climbing algorithm.

Q.7 Explain how GA work. Define terms chromosome, fitness function, crossover, mutation.

Q. 8 Define minimax, alpha beta pruning with suitable example. Give alpha beta search algorithm.
Why is it suitable for two player games.

o MCQs Missed Module 3

1. Which of the following is not an uninformed search technique?
i) Breadth-first search ii) Uniform-cost search
iii) Depth-first search iv) A* search
2. Which of the following is not an informed search technique?
i) Greedy best-first search ii) A* search iii)Depth-first search
Searching Techniques 53

3. Which of the following is not an application of CSP?

i) Floor Planning ii) Transportation Scheduling iii) both i and ii iv) none
4. Which of the following gives an optimal solution?
i) Breadth First ii) Uniform cost iii) both i and ii iv) none
5. Which of the following gives a complete solution?
i) Iterative Deepening ii) Bidirectional iii) both i and ii iv) none

References:
Books:
Title Authors Publisher Edition Year Chapter
No
1 Artificial Stuart J. Russell and Peter McGraw 3rd
Intelligence a Norvig Hill Edition
Modern 2009
Approach
2 A First Course in Deepak Khemani McGraw 1st
Artificial Hill Edition
Intelligence Education 2013
(India)

Online Resources:
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