Module 1 : Problem Solving & Scope of AI

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 Topics to be covered

• Informed Search.

• Heuristic Function.

• Heuristic Example : 8-Puzzle Problem.

• Heuristic Search Algorithm.

- Best Search First
- A*
–AO*
- Hill Climbing
- Constraint Satisfaction

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Informed Search

• Informed search tries to reduce the amount of search that must be done by making intelligent choices
for the nodes that are selected for expansion.

• In general this is done using a heuristic function.

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Heuristic Function
• A heuristic function is a function that ranks alternatives in various search algorithms at each
branching step based on the available information (heuristically) in order to make a decision
about which branch to follow during a search.

• Well designed heuristic functions can play an important part inefficiently guiding a search
process toward a solution.

• Sometimes very simple heuristic functions can provide a fairly good estimate of whether a path
is any good or not.

• In other situations, more complex heuristic functions should be employed.

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 Practice Question on A*
Find the path to reach from S to G using A* search.

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 Practice Question on AO*
Figure represents an AO graph with the values labeled as follows. The value in a single line circle is
an estimate of cost. The value in a double lined circle, a SOLVED node, is the actual value. Each edge
is labeled with a different cost. What is the value of the root node for the optimal solution for the AO
graph?

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Thank You

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