SEARCH ALGORITHMS IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE:

Search algorithms are one of the most important areas of Artificial Intelligence.

Problem-solving agents:

In Artificial Intelligence, Search techniques are universal problem-solving methods. Rational

agents or Problem-solving agents in AI mostly used these search strategies or algorithms to solve a
specific problem and provide the best result. Problem-solving agents are the goal-based agents and
use atomic representation. In this topic, we will learn various problem-solving search algorithms.

Search Algorithm Terminologies:

o Search: Searchingis a step by step procedure to solve a search-problem in a given search
space. A search problem can have three main factors:
a. Search Space: Search space represents a set of possible solutions, which a system
may have.
b. Start State: It is a state from where agent begins the search.
c. Goal test: It is a function which observe the current state and returns whether the goal
state is achieved or not.
o Search tree: A tree representation of search problem is called Search tree. The root of the
search tree is the root node which is corresponding to the initial state.
o Actions: It gives the description of all the available actions to the agent.
o Transition model: A description of what each action do, can be represented as a transition
model.
o Path Cost: It is a function which assigns a numeric cost to each path.
o Solution: It is an action sequence which leads from the start node to the goal node.
o Optimal Solution: If a solution has the lowest cost among all solutions.

Properties of Search Algorithms:

Following are the four essential properties of search algorithms to compare the efficiency of these
algorithms:

Completeness: A search algorithm is said to be complete if it guarantees to return a solution if at least

any solution exists for any random input

Optimality: If a solution found for an algorithm is guaranteed to be the best solution (lowest path
cost) among all other solutions, then such a solution for is said to be an optimal solution.

Time Complexity: Time complexity is a measure of time for an algorithm to complete its task.

Space Complexity: It is the maximum storage space required at any point during the search, as the
complexity of the problem.
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Types of search algorithms

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

Uninformed/Blind Search:

The uninformed search does not contain any domain knowledge such as 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 search.It
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

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Informed 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.

1. Greedy Search
2. A* Search

Uninformed Search Algorithms

Uninformed search is a class of general-purpose search algorithms which operates in brute force-way.
Uninformed search algorithms do not have additional information about state or search space other
than how to traverse the tree, so it is also called blind search.

Following are the various types of uninformed search algorithms:

1. Breadth-first Search
2. Depth-first Search
3. Depth-limited Search
4. Iterative deepening depth-first search
5. Uniform cost search
6. Bidirectional Search

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.

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 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.

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:

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).
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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 is a 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.

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.

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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 be treated as if 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.

Advantages:

Depth-limited search is Memory efficient.

Disadvantages:

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 o Depth-limited search also has a disadvantage of incompleteness.
o It may not be optimal if the problem has more than one solution.

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:

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 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.

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 DEEPENING DEPTH-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.

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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.

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:

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.

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Completeness:

This algorithm is complete is if the branching factor is finite. The branching factor is the number of
successors generated by a given node. The effective branching factor is the number of successors
generated by a "typical" node for a given search problem.

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.

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.

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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.

INFORMED SEARCH ALGORITHMS

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.

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Admissibility of the heuristic function is given as: 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 until 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)

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)= g(n).

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

The greedy best first search 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.

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 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.

In this search example, we are using two lists which are OPEN and CLOSED Lists. Following are the
iteration for traversing the above example.
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Expand the nodes of S and put in the CLOSED list

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

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(b m). 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).

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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.

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.

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.

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Example:
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.

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:
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 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.

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)

HILL CLIMBING ALGORITHM IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

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.

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Features of Hill Climbing:

Following are some main features of Hill Climbing Algorithm:

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.

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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.

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:
a. If it is goal state, then return success and quit.
b. Else if it is better than the current state then assign new state as a current state.
c. 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.

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 o Step 2: Loop until a solution is found or the current state does not change.
a. Let SUCC be a state such that any successor of the current state will be better than it.
b. For each operator that applies to the current state:
a. Apply the new operator and generate a new state.
b. Evaluate the new state.
c. If it is goal state, then return it and quit, else compare it to the SUCC.
d. If it is better than SUCC, then set new state as SUCC.
e. If the SUCC is better than the current state, then set current state to SUCC.
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.

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.

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

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MEANS-ENDS ANALYSIS IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

o We have studied the strategies which can reason either in forward or backward, but a mixture
of the two directions is appropriate for solving a complex and large problem. Such a mixed
strategy, make it possible that first to solve the major part of a problem and then go back and
solve the small problems arise during combining the big parts of the problem. Such a
technique is called Means-Ends Analysis.
o Means-Ends Analysis is problem-solving techniques used in Artificial intelligence for
limiting search in AI programs.
o It is a mixture of Backward and forward search technique.
o The MEA technique was first introduced in 1961 by Allen Newell, and Herbert A. Simon in
their problem-solving computer program, which was named as General Problem Solver
(GPS).
o The MEA analysis process centered on the evaluation of the difference between the current
state and goal state.

How means-ends analysis Works:

The means-ends analysis process can be applied recursively for a problem. It is a strategy to control
search in problem-solving. Following are the main Steps which describes the working of MEA
technique for solving a problem.

a. First, evaluate the difference between Initial State and final State.
b. Select the various operators which can be applied for each difference.
c. Apply the operator at each difference, which reduces the difference between the current state
and goal state.

Operator Subgoaling

In the MEA process, we detect the differences between the current state and goal state. Once these
differences occur, then we can apply an operator to reduce the differences. But sometimes it is
possible that an operator cannot be applied to the current state. So we create the subproblem of the
current state, in which operator can be applied, such type of backward chaining in which operators are
selected, and then sub goals are set up to establish the preconditions of the operator is called Operator
Subgoaling.

Algorithm for Means-Ends Analysis:

Let's we take Current state as CURRENT and Goal State as GOAL, then following are the steps for
the MEA algorithm.

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 o Step 1: Compare CURRENT to GOAL, if there are no differences between both then return
Success and Exit.
o Step 2: Else, select the most significant difference and reduce it by doing the following steps
until the success or failure occurs.
a. Select a new operator O which is applicable for the current difference, and if there is
no such operator, then signal failure.
b. Attempt to apply operator O to CURRENT. Make a description of two states.
i) O-Start, a state in which O?s preconditions are satisfied.
ii) O-Result, the state that would result if O were applied In O-start.
c. If
(First-Part <------ MEA (CURRENT, O-START)
And
(LAST-Part <----- MEA (O-Result, GOAL), are successful, then signal Success and
return the result of combining FIRST-PART, O, and LAST-PART.

The above-discussed algorithm is more suitable for a simple problem and not adequate for solving
complex problems.

Example of Mean-Ends Analysis:

Let's take an example where we know the initial state and goal state as given below. In this problem,
we need to get the goal state by finding differences between the initial state and goal state and
applying operators.

Solution:

To solve the above problem, we will first find the differences between initial states and goal states,
and for each difference, we will generate a new state and will apply the operators. The operators we
have for this problem are:

o Move
o Delete
o Expand

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1. Evaluating the initial state: In the first step, we will evaluate the initial state and will compare
the initial and Goal state to find the differences between both states.

2. Applying Delete operator: As we can check the first difference is that in goal state there is no
dot symbol which is present in the initial state, so, first we will apply the Delete operator to
remove this dot.

3. Applying Move Operator: After applying the Delete operator, the new state occurs which we
will again compare with goal state. After comparing these states, there is another difference
that is the square is outside the circle, so, we will apply the Move Operator.

4. Applying Expand Operator: Now a new state is generated in the third step, and we will
compare this state with the goal state. After comparing the states there is still one difference
which is the size of the square, so, we will apply Expand operator, and finally, it will generate
the goal state.

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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.

Next…
Types of Games in AI:

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