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. 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.
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).

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.

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.

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.

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.
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. 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.
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.
Completeness:
This algorithm is complete is if the 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.

5. 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.
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.
Admissibility of the heuristic function is given as: History of Java
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)
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 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.
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]

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(b m).
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).
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.

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.
Solution:

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.
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)

3.) AO* Algorithm:

AO* algorithm is a best first search algorithm. AO* algorithm uses the concept of AND-OR
graphs to decompose any complex problem given into smaller set of problems which are
further solved. AND-OR graphs are specialized graphs that are used in problems that can be
broken down into sub problems where AND side of the graph represent a set of task that need
to be done to achieve the main goal , whereas the or side of the graph represent the different
ways of performing task to achieve the same main goal.
 In the abovc figure we can see an example of a simple AND-OR graph wherein, the
acquisition of speakers can be broken into sub problems/tasks that could be performed to
finish the main goal. The sub task is to either steal speakers which will directly helps us
achieve the main goal "or" earn some money "and" buy speakers which helps us achieve the
main goal. The AND part of the graphs are represented by the AND-ARCS, referring that all
the sub problems with the AND-ARCS need to be solved for the predecessor node or
problem to be completed. The edges without AND-ARCS are OR sub problems that can be
done instead of the sub problems with And-arcs. It is to be noted that several edges can come
from a single node as well as the presence of multiple AND arcs and multiple OR sub
problems are possible.

The AO* algorithm is a knowledge-based search technique, meaning the start state and the
goal state is already defined , and the best path is found using heuristics. The time complexity
of the algorithm is significantly reduced due to the informed search technique.Compared to
the A* algorithm , AO* algorithm is very efficient in searching the AND-OR trees very
efficiently.

Working of AO algorithm:
The AO* algorithm works on the formula given below :
f(n) = g(n) + h(n)
where,
● g(n): The actual cost of traversal from initial state to the current state.

● h(n): The estimated cost of traversal from the current state to the goal state.
● f(n): The actual cost of traversal from the initial state to the goal state.
Now, to get a better idea of the AO* algorithm lets take a look at an example.
Example-
Here, in the above example all numbers in brackets are the heuristic value i.e h(n). Each edge
is considered to have a value of 1 by default.

Step-1
Starting from node A, we first calculate the best path.
f(A-B) = g(B) + h(B) = 1+4= 5 , where 1 is the default cost value of travelling from A to B
and 4 is the estimated cost from B to Goal state.
f(A-C-D) = g(C) + h(C) + g(D) + h(D) = 1+2+1+3 = 7 , here we are calculating the path cost
as both C and D because they have the AND-Arc. The default cost value of travelling from
A-C is 1, and from A-D is 1, but the heuristic value given for C and D are 2 and 3
respectively hence making the cost as 7.

The minimum cost path is chosen i.e A-B.

Step-2
Using the same formula as step-1, the path is now calculated from the B node,
f(B-E) = 1 + 6 = 7.
f(B-F) = 1 + 8 = 9
Hence, the B-E path has lesser cost. Now the heuristics have to be updated since there is a
difference between actual and heuristic value of B. The minimum cost path is chosen and is
updated as the heuristic , in our case the value is 7. And because of change in heuristic of B
there is also change in heuristic of A which is to be calculated again.
f(A-B) = g(B) + updated((h(B)) = 1+7=8

Step-3
Comparing path of f(A-B) and f(A-C-D) it is seen that f(A-C-D) is smaller. Hence f(A-C-D)
needs to be explored.
Now the current node becomes C node and the cost of the path is calculated,
f(C-G) = 1+2 = 3
f(C-H-I) = 1+0+1+0 = 2
f(C-H-I) is chosen as minimum cost path,also there is no change in heuristic since it matches
the actual cost. Heuristic of path of H and I are 0 and hence they are solved, but Path A-D
also needs to be calculated , since it has an AND-arc.
f(D-J) = 1+0 = 1, hence heuristic of D needs to be updated to 1. And finally the f(A-C-D)
needs to be updated.
f(A-C-D) = g(C) + h(C) + g(D) + updated((h(D)) = 1+2+1+1 =5.
As we can see that the solved path is f(A-C-D).

Local Search Algorithms and Optimization Problem

The informed and uninformed search expands the nodes systematically in two ways:
 ● keeping different paths in the memory and
● selecting the best suitable path,

Which leads to a solution state required to reach the goal node. But beyond these “classical
search algorithms," we have some “local search algorithms” where the path cost does
not matters, and only focus on solution-state needed to reach the goal node.
A local search algorithm completes its task by traversing on a single current node rather than
multiple paths and following the neighbors of that node generally.
Although local search algorithms are not systematic, still they have the following two
advantages:

● Local search algorithms use a very little or constant amount of memory as they
operate only on a single path.
● Most often, they find a reasonable solution in large or infinite state spaces where the
classical or systematic algorithms do not work.

Does the local search algorithm work for a pure optimized problem?
Yes, the local search algorithm works for pure optimized problems. A pure optimization
problem is one where all the nodes can give a solution. But the target is to find the best state
out of all according to the objective function. Unfortunately, the pure optimization problem
fails to find high-quality solutions to reach the goal state from the current state.

Note: An objective function is a function whose value is either minimized or maximized in

different contexts of the optimization problems. In the case of search algorithms, an objective
function can be the path cost for reaching the goal node, etc.
Working of a Local search algorithm
Let's understand the working of a local search algorithm with the help of an example:
Consider the below state-space landscape having both:

● Location: It is defined by the state.

● Elevation: It is defined by the value of the objective function or heuristic cost
function.
The local search algorithm explores the above landscape by finding the following two points:

● Global Minimum: If the elevation corresponds to the cost, then the task is to find the
lowest valley, which is known as Global Minimum.
● Global Maxima: If the elevation corresponds to an objective function, then it finds
the highest peak which is called as Global Maxima. It is the highest point in the
valley.

We will understand the working of these points better in Hill-climbing search.

Below are some different types of local searches:

● Hill-climbing Search
● Simulated Annealing
● Local Beam Search

We will discuss above searches in the next section.

Note: Local search algorithms do not burden to remember all the nodes in the memory; it
operates on complete state-formulation.

Hill Climbing Algorithm in AI

Hill Climbing Algorithm: Hill climbing search is a local search problem. The purpose of the
hill climbing search is to climb a hill and reach the topmost peak/ point of that hill. It is based
on the heuristic search technique where the person who is climbing up on the hill estimates
the direction which will lead him to the highest peak.
State-space Landscape of Hill climbing algorithm
To understand the concept of hill climbing algorithm, consider the below landscape
representing the goal state/peak and the current state of the climber. The topographical
regions shown in the figure can be defined as:

● Global Maximum: It is the highest point on the hill, which is the goal state.
● Local Maximum: It is the peak higher than all other peaks but lower than the global
maximum.
● Flat local maximum: It is the flat area over the hill where it has no uphill or
downhill. It is a saturated point of the hill.
● Shoulder: It is also a flat area where the summit is possible.
● Current state: It is the current position of the person.

Types of Hill climbing search algorithm

There are following types of hill-climbing search:

● Simple hill climbing

● Steepest-ascent hill climbing
● Stochastic hill climbing
● Random-restart hill climbing
Simple hill climbing search
Simple hill climbing is the simplest technique to climb a hill. The task is to reach the highest
peak of the mountain. Here, the movement of the climber depends on his move/steps. If he
finds his next step better than the previous one, he continues to move else remain in the same
state. This search focus only on his previous and next step.
Simple hill climbing Algorithm

1. Create a CURRENT node, NEIGHBOUR node, and a GOAL node.

2. If the CURRENT node=GOAL node, return GOAL and terminate the search.
3. Else CURRENT node<= NEIGHBOUR node, move ahead.
4. Loop until the goal is not reached or a point is not found.

Steepest-ascent hill climbing

Steepest-ascent hill climbing is different from simple hill climbing search. Unlike simple hill
climbing search, It considers all the successive nodes, compares them, and choose the node
which is closest to the solution. Steepest hill climbing search is similar to best-first
search because it focuses on each node instead of one.
Note: Both simple, as well as steepest-ascent hill climbing search, fails when there is no
closer node.
Steepest-ascent hill climbing algorithm

1. Create a CURRENT node and a GOAL node.

2. If the CURRENT node=GOAL node, return GOAL and terminate the search.
3. Loop until a better node is not found to reach the solution.
4. If there is any better successor node present, expand it.
5. When the GOAL is attained, return GOAL and terminate.

Stochastic hill climbing

Stochastic hill climbing does not focus on all the nodes. It selects one node at random and
decides whether it should be expanded or search for a better one.
Random-restart hill climbing
Random-restart algorithm is based on try and try strategy. It iteratively searches the node
and selects the best one at each step until the goal is not found. The success depends most
commonly on the shape of the hill. If there are few plateaus, local maxima, and ridges, it
becomes easy to reach the destination.
Limitations of Hill climbing algorithm
Hill climbing algorithm is a fast and furious approach. It finds the solution state rapidly
because it is quite easy to improve a bad state. But, there are following limitations of this
search:

● Local Maxima: It is that peak of the mountain which is highest than all its
neighboring states but lower than the global maxima. It is not the goal peak because
there is another peak higher than it.

● Plateau: It is a flat surface area where no uphill exists. It becomes difficult for the
climber to decide that in which direction he should move to reach the goal point.
Sometimes, the person gets lost in the flat area.

● Ridges: It is a challenging problem where the person finds two or more local maxima
of the same height commonly. It becomes difficult for the person to navigate the right
point and stuck to that point itself.
Simulated Annealing
Simulated annealing is similar to the hill climbing algorithm. It works on the current
situation. It picks a random move instead of picking the best move. If the move leads to the
improvement of the current situation, it is always accepted as a step towards the solution
state, else it accepts the move having a probability less than 1. This search technique was
first used in 1980 to solve VLSI layout problems. It is also applied for factory scheduling
and other large optimization tasks.
Local Beam Search
Local beam search is quite different from random-restart search. It keeps track of k states
instead of just one. It selects k randomly generated states, and expand them at each step. If
any state is a goal state, the search stops with success. Else it selects the best k successors
from the complete list and repeats the same process. In random-restart search where each
search process runs independently, but in local beam search, the necessary information is
shared between the parallel search processes.
Disadvantages of Local Beam search

● This search can suffer from a lack of diversity among the k states.
● It is an expensive version of hill climbing search.

Note: A variant of Local Beam Search is Stochastic Beam Search which

selects k successors at random rather than choosing the best k successors.
 Introduction to Genetic Algorithms — Including Example Code
A genetic algorithm is a search heuristic that is inspired by Charles Darwin’s theory of
natural evolution. This algorithm reflects the process of natural selection where the fittest
individuals are selected for reproduction in order to
produce offspring of the next generation.
Notion of Natural Selection
The process of natural selection starts with the selection of fittest individuals from a
population. They produce offspring which inherit the characteristics of the parents and will be
added to the next generation. If parents have better fitness, their offspring will be better than
parents and have a better chance at surviving. This process keeps on iterating and at the end,
a generation with the fittest individuals will be found.
This notion can be applied for a search problem. We consider a set of solutions for a problem
and select the set of best ones out of them.
Five phases are considered in a genetic algorithm.

1. Initial population
2. Fitness function
3. Selection
4. Crossover
5. Mutation

Initial Population
The process begins with a set of individuals which is called a Population. Each individual is
a solution to the problem you want to solve.
An individual is characterized by a set of parameters (variables) known as Genes. Genes are
joined into a string to form a Chromosome (solution).
In a genetic algorithm, the set of genes of an individual is represented using a string, in terms
of an alphabet. Usually, binary values are used (string of 1s and 0s). We say that we encode
the genes in a chromosome.
Fitness Function
The fitness function determines how fit an individual is (the ability of an individual to
compete with other individuals). It gives a fitness score to each individual. The probability
that an individual will be selected for reproduction is based on its fitness score.
Selection
The idea of selection phase is to select the fittest individuals and let them pass their genes to
the next generation.
Two pairs of individuals (parents) are selected based on their fitness scores. Individuals with
high fitness have more chance to be selected for reproduction.
Crossover
Crossover is the most significant phase in a genetic algorithm. For each pair of parents to be
mated, a crossover point is chosen at random from within the genes.

For example, consider the crossover point to be 3 as shown below.

 A1 = 000111= 0*25 + 0*24 +0*23 +1*22 +1*21 +1*20 =0+0+0+4+2+1=7
A2 = 111000=1*25 + 1*24 +1*23 +0*22 +0*21 +0*20 =32+16+8=56

Offspring are created by exchanging the genes of parents among themselves until the
crossover point is reached.

The new offspring are added to the population.

Mutation
In certain new offspring formed, some of their genes can be subjected to a mutation with a
low random probability. This implies that some of the bits in the bit string can be flipped.

Mutation occurs to maintain diversity within the population and prevent premature
convergence.
Termination
The algorithm terminates if the population has converged (does not produce offspring which
are significantly different from the previous generation). Then it is said that the genetic
algorithm has provided a set of solutions to our problem.
Comments
The population has a fixed size. As new generations are formed, individuals with least fitness
die, providing space for new offspring.
The sequence of phases is repeated to produce individuals in each new generation which are
better than the previous generation.

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.

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, nuclea

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.

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.
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.
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.

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.

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
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
Step 4: 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
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.

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:

. 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 -∞.
a. 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:
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.

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.

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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.

Constraints Satisfaction Problems (CSP)

CSPs are used in many fields, such as biology (DNA sequencing), Constraint Databases,
Diagnosis, Natural Language Recognition, and so on.

What is a Constraints Satisfaction Problem?

Constraint Satisfaction Problems (CSP) represents a class of problems where there are some
restrictions between objects within that problem.
In a formal way, a CSP is composed of three components:
1. A set of variables (V = {V1…Vn})
2. A domain for each variables (D = {D1 … Dn})
3. A set of constraints ( C )

Solutions

Like every problem, also CSP can have solutions; but we need to define the “notion of
solution”. So, let’s start from states:

A state in a CSP is an assignment of values to some or all of the variables; we define

as partial assignment in the first case (where not every variable has an assignment)
and complete assignment in the other case. We also define a consistent assignment as one
assignment that satisfies all the constraints.

A solution to a CSP (or the goal state) is a complete and consistent assignment.

CSP: An Example
we can see an example. This is the famous “Australia map coloring problem” and it can be
described as following:

You have to color each region of Australia using three colors {red, blue green} so that no
neighboring territory has the same color.

Ok, it can be even too simple at first glance but let’s define the CSP:
1. V = {WA, NT, Q, NSW, V, SA, T}
2. D = {green, red, blue}, in this problem all variables have the same domain
3. C = {“adjacent regions can’t have the same color”}

Constraint graph

The first thing we can do to better understand this problem is to define the constraint graph,
which is useful to view the relations among variables.
The constraint graph is an undirected graph where we put a node for each variable (from the
original CSP) and an edge between two nodes if there is a constraint among the variables
represented by the nodes.