COS3751/102/3/2021

Tutorial Letter 102/3/2021

Techniques of Artificial Intelligence

COS3751

Semesters 1 & 2

Computer Science
School of Computing

CONTENTS
Assignments 01 and 02, and the self-assessment assignment for both semesters

BAR CODE

university
Define Tomorrow. of south africa
 We remind you that the purpose of these assignments are for you to have a genuine attempt
at solving some sample problems. It is thus a matter of personal learning, and growth. Please don’t
leave them to the last minute, and above all: please put in honest, own effort when completing
them.

ASSIGNMENT 1
Due Date: 12 May 2021
Total Marks: 150
Unique Assignment Number: 848630/772589

FOR SUPER SEMESTER – Semesters 1 & 2

Study material: Chapters 1 through 4. You may skip sections 4.2 and 4.5.
Important: When we use the phrase ‘define’ (particularly in Question 2), we are looking
for a formal definition using some form of formal notation, and not simply an English description
or definition. For example: ‘Define the initial state for an agent in Johannesburg’. Answer:
In(Johannesburg). ‘Define the actions available to this agent given that the agent simply moves
between major metropolitan areas’. Answer: Actions(In(Johannesburg)) = {Go(Bloemontein),
Go(Durban), . . . }. When we want an English definition we will explicitly ask for it.

Question 1: 13 Marks

(1.1) Explain the difference between a single and multi-agent environment. (6)

(1.2) Explain the difference between a Deterministic and Stochastic environment. (4)

(1.3) Consider a game of chess. Is this a fully observable, partially observable, or unobservable (3)
environment? Clearly explain your answer.

Question 2: 22 Marks

(2.1) List the 5 components that can be used to define a problem. (5)

(2.2) Differentiate between search space and goal space. (2)

(2.3) What is the purpose of the explored set? (1)

(2.4) List and discuss three types of queues that may be employed in a search. (6)

(2.5) List and explain the measures used to determine problem solving performance. (8)

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Question 3: 23 Marks

Three (3) hikers (Andile, Barbara, and Ché) have just descended down a valley to find themselves
confronted by a river they cannot get across. After walking downstream for a while they find two
young boys with a boat and ask them if they would help them get across the river. The boys agree,
but inform the hikers that since their boat is so small, it can only hold only the two boys or one of
the hikers at a time. We can assume that everyone knows how to row the boat.

(3.1) Define a state using a mathematical notation (pictures or any form of graphical notation (7)
will not be accepted). Discuss the appropriateness of your choice, and provide an example
to show that it will be suitable to be employed during a search.

(3.2) Define the start and goal states using your representation. (6)

(3.3) Define an appropriate cost function or functions for this problem. (2)

(3.4) Provide a formal definition of a valid action function for this problem – you need not (8)
provide a formal definition for the operation of the function. Discuss the operation of the
function and provide an example to illustrate its use.

Question 4: 12 Marks

(4.1) Highlight the differences between a tree and graph search. (3)

(4.2) How does a Breadth First Search (BFS) differ from the general tree seach algorithm? (5)
What is the major reason for implementing the algorithm in this way? Provide an
example to aid your discussion.

(4.3) Consider an example of a sliding-block puzzle game state provided below (Figure 1). How (4)
many distinct states are there for puzzles of this sort? How many search nodes? Explain
how you reached your answer.

I N L D

E C K

B H J O

A F G M

Figure 1: Sliding-block puzzle

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Question 5: 6 Marks

Consider the search tree in Figure 2.

M E

D C L B

K I J H F G N A

Figure 2: Search Tree (Iterative Deepening Search (IDS))

(5.1) Show the order in which the nodes will be expanded (from limit 0 to limit 4) given that (6)
IDS is used. Assume the goal node is F , and that nodes are expanded from left to right.

Question 6: 16 Marks

Consider the graph in Figure 3.

(6.1) Explain the concept of Uniform Cost Search (UCS). Provide an example to aid your (4)
discussion

(6.2) Suppose we start at C and the goal is G. Write down the nodes in the order they are (12)
expanded. Show your steps and calculations. The step cost between nodes is provided
next to the edges in the graph.

Question 7: 4 Marks

(7.1) Differentiate between an admissible and a consistent heuristic. (4)

Question 8: 31 Marks

Consider Figure 4 and Table 1 and answer the questions that follow. Table 1 provides the estimated
distances from each node to H (thus ĥ for each node). The label next to each edge provides the cost
between nodes (thus ĝ).

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B 20

15
C

D 4

24
14
22 F

G E

9
12

Figure 3: Search Graph (Uniform Cost Search (UCS))

(8.1) Supose the start node is A, and the goal node is N . List the nodes in the order in which (10)
they are expanded (not generated). Show your steps (don’t just list the nodes, explain
the reason for each choice).

(8.2) When adding nodes to the frontier (during the search), is it enough to simply add nodes (4)
from the state space to the frontier? Justify your answer.

(8.3) Provide the content of the frontier at the time the search terminates. (10)

(8.4) Is the heuristic being applied consistent? Justify your answer by providing proof from (7)
the graph.

Question 9: 23 Marks

A magic square is a square of n × n cells, and which has some very interesting properties: all the

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 A
7
3
8
B D 10
10 C 4
7
F K
8
6 5
10 3 2
5 I
E

G M
5 4 L
1
H 3

Figure 4: A∗ Search

Node Estimated distance to N

A 10
B 12
C 4
D 5
E 4
F 7
G 4
H 5
I 4
K 2
L 1
M 1
N 0

Table 1: Distance Table

rows, columns, and diagonals, when summed, adds up to the magic constant. The magic constant is
calculated as follows:
n(n2 + 1)
M=
2
3(32 +1)
Thus, for n = 3, M = 2
= 15. The entries in the square are limited to the integers between 1

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and n2 . For example, a solution for n = 3 is:

8 1 6

3 5 7

4 9 2

Figure 5: Magic Square for n = 3

It is easy to verify that every row, column, and diagonal in the above example adds up to 15.

(9.1) Differentiate between a global and local maxima/minima. (4)

(9.2) One way of solving a magic square is to randomly populate the entries, and then swap val- (4)
ues until a solution is found. Define an appropriate objective function for this approach.
Explain its function and provide and example to illustrate its use.

(9.3) Differentiate between a standard hill-climb search and a simulated annealing search. (5)
Would simulated annealing fit the approach in the previous question? Explain your
answer. (Hint: think about what simulated annealing is supposed to do with respect to
local/global maxima, also think about shoulders and plateaux.)

(9.4) Using the approach suggested above, show the first 5 states in the search as well as (10)
the value of your objective function for each state. (Start off with a randomly populated
magic square, and show 4 subsequent “moves”. In each case, show the value the objective
function would take for each “move”.)

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 ASSIGNMENT 2
Due Date: 7 July 2021
Total Marks: 150
Unique Assignment Number: 738958/763908

FOR SUPER SEMESTER – Semesters 1 & 2

Study material: Chapters 5 and 6. You may skip sections 5.5, 5.6, and 5.7.

Question 1: 13 Marks

(1.1) Clearly explain what a utility function is, and why it is used during adversarial searches. (3)

(1.2) Is the ideal strategy only available if we have perfect information? Explain your answer. (4)

(1.3) Explain how forward pruning works. Provide at least one approach to forward pruning in (3)
your explanation, as well as a problem that may be encountered with forward pruning.

(1.4) Does the order in which nodes are examined in minimax matter? Explain your answer. (3)

Question 2: 31 Marks

Consider Figure 6 and answer the questions that follow. (The utility value of the leaf nodes are
provided in brackets in the leaf node.)

B C

D E F G H I

J K L M N O Q R
P

-7 0 -4 3 -4
5 -8 -12 -3

Figure 6: Minimax, alpha/beta

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(2.1) Provide the minimax values for all the nodes. (9)

(2.2) Which move should MAX make? Explain your answer. (2)

(2.3) Write down the α/β values for all the nodes (except the leaf nodes) if alpha/beta pruning (14)
is applied to the tree.

(2.4) Write down which nodes were cut and what type of cut was made in each case (alpha, (6)
or beta).

Question 3: 23 Marks

(3.1) Consider a simplified version of Nim: Two players (A and B) take turns removing items
from a heap (just one heap). Each player may remove either one or two items from the
heap. The heap starts off with five items, and player A moves first. The objective of the
game is to be the last player to remove items from the heap. That is, if it is your turn
to move, and the heap is empty, you’ve lost the game.
A partial game tree for the game is shown in Figure 7 on page 10. The state
represented in each node is (P, n) where P ∈ {A, B} (the player whose turn it is to move
next) and 0 ≤ n ≤ 5 (the number of items remaining in the heap). Thus (A, 5) would
mean that player A will move next, and there are five items left in the heap. The label
next to each edge indicates the number of items removed by the player whose turn it was
to move.
Terminal states are shown in rectangles. The utility value for a win uw for player
A is +1, and a loss ul is −1 (draws are not possible in this game). Players are greedy,
and if a win is possible, they will take it.
Suppose you are trying to build a minimal tree for the game using expected utility
values for different states (since you have access to the entire search tree you are able to
use statistics based on the number of occurrences of events – or the maximum likelihood
estimator). You want to limit the depth of the tree to 2 (the root node and one level
below).
(a) Differentiate between utility and expected utility, provide an example to illus- (5)
trate.
(b) What is the expected utility value for state (B, 4) (E(B,4) ) for player A? Show (9)
your calculations. Should A play to state (B, 4) by taking just 1 item from the heap?
Why/why not (refer to the expected utility value you calculated when answering this
part of the question)?
(c) (9)
Now calculate the expected utility value for (B, 3). Show your calculations.
Will A benefit from making this move instead of moving to (B, 4)? Justify your
answer.

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 ...

2
(B,2) (A,0)
1
(B,3)
(A,3)
2
1
(B,1) (A,0)
2

(A,5) 1
(B,4)
2

2
(A,2) (B,0)

Figure 7: Partial game tree for simplified Nim.

Question 4: 11 Marks

Answer the following questions on Constraint Satisfaction Problems (CSPs).

(4.1) Define the Least Constraining Value (LCV) heuristic. (2)

(4.2) Explain why establishing strong k-consistency is a problem. (3)

(4.3) Define the degree heuristic. (2)

(4.4) If no legal assignments for a variable remain during a solution to a CSP, does it mean (2)
that the algorithm will be able to find a solution by simply backtracking? Explain your
answer.

(4.5) Explain what forward checking for a CSP is. (2)

Question 5: 43 Marks

Consider the following cryptarithmetic puzzle:

N E V E R
+ A L W A Y S
N E A R L Y

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Cryparithmetic puzzles can be represented as CSPs if properly reformulated. Answer the ques-
tions that follow.

(5.1) Define the variables for this cryptarithmetic puzzle. (Include any carry variables that (11)
may be required).

(5.2) Provide the domains for the variables. (4)

(5.3) Provide the constraints for this puzzle. (8)

(5.4) Provide the solution to this crypt-arithmetic puzzle, show all the steps you took to arrive (10)
at the answer (also show which heuristic you employed, and your backtracking strategy
(if used)).

(5.5) Draw the constraint hypergraph for the puzzle. (10)

Question 6: 29 Marks

Consider the problem of assigning registers on a central processing unit (CPU) to the variables in a
program. Since a program may have many variables and there are a limited number of registers on
the CPU, assigning registers to variables is an important problem.
Since only certain variables are in use at different times during the execution of the program
(variables that are being used at a particular time are called alive), the real task is merely to figure
out which alive variables to assign to the limited number of registers.
This is a classic graph-colouring problem. For a certain program the following holds:

1. There are seven variables in use in the program.

2. Program variables A,B, and D are alive together. Program variables C,D,E, and F are alive
together, and program variables A,E, and G are alive together.

3. There are four registers available for assignment to program variables.

(6.1) Define the variables for this CSP. (9)

(6.2) Define the domain for each variable in the CSP. (4)

(6.3) Define the constraints for the variables in the CSP. (11)

(6.4) Provide the constraint graph for this problem. Does a solution exist? If no solution (5)
exists, explain what parameters from the problem would have to change in order to get
to a solution.

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 SELF ASSESSMENT ASSIGNMENT

ALL STUDENTS

Study material: Chapters 7, 8, 9, and 18. You may skip sections 6.6, 8.4, 9.3, 9.4. You
only need to study 18.1, 18.2, and 18.3

Question 1

Exercise 7.10 c,f and g.

Question 2

Exercise 7.21 a and b.

Question 3

Convert the following propositional sentence to conjunctive normal form (CNF):

¬[A ⇔ (C ∨ E)) ⇒ ¬((B ∧ F ) ⇒ ¬D)]

Question 4

Convert the following first-order logic sentence to clause form:

(∀y)[(∀x)[P (x)] ⇒ (∃x)[(∀z)[Q(x, z)]∨)(∀z)[R(x, y, z)]]]

Question 5

Consider the following English statements:

ˆ Anyone passing his history exam and winning the lottery is happy.

ˆ Anyone who studies or is lucky can pass his exams.

ˆ John did not study.

ˆ John is lucky.

ˆ Anyone who is lucky wins the lottery.

(5.1) Translate the above English sentences to First-order Logic (FOL) statements.

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(5.2) Convert the FOL statements obtained in 5.1 into clause form.

(5.3) Use resolution refutation to prove that John is happy.

Question 6

(6.1) Convert the Boolean function in table 2 into a decision tree:

x1 x2 x3 f(x1 , x2 , x3 )
0 0 0 1
0 0 1 0
0 1 0 1
0 1 1 1
1 0 0 1
1 0 1 0
1 1 0 0
1 1 1 1

Table 2: Boolean function table

(6.2) When we construct a decision tree without the benefit of gain values, the order in which
we evaluate the variables is important. Why?

Question 7

The National Credit Act introduced in South Africa in 2007 places more responsibility on a bank to
determine whether the loan applicant will be able to afford it. Blue Bank has a table of information
on 14 loan applications they have received in the past.

(7.1) Use the information in this table to construct a decision tree that will assist the bank in
determining the RISK associated with a new loan application.

© UNISA 2021 (v2021.1.0)

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 No. Credit history Debt Collateral Income RISK
1 Bad High No < R15k High
2 unknown High No R15k - R35k High
3 unknown Low No R15k - R35k Medium
4 unknown Low No < R15k High
5 unknown Low No > R35k Low
6 unknown Low Yes > R35k Low
7 Bad Low No < R15k High
8 Bad Low Yes > R35k Medium
9 Good Low No > R35k Low
10 Good High Yes > R35k Low
11 Good High No < R15k High
12 Good High No R15k - R35k Medium
13 Good High No > R35k Low
14 Bad High No R15k - R35k High

Table 3: Risk information table

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