Unit – I : INTRODUCTION

Topic 3: Heuristic Search

 What is heuristics?
• Heuristics are:
– simple strategies or mental processes that humans,
animals, organizations and even some machines use
– to quickly form judgments, make decisions, and find
solutions to complex problems.
• This happens when an individual, human or
otherwise,
– focuses on the most relevant aspects of a problem
or situation to formulate a solution.
 Basics on heuristics
• Herbert A. Simon formulated one of the first models of
heuristics, known as satisfying.
• His more general research program posed the question of
– How humans make decisions when the conditions for
rational choice theory are not met?
– That is how people decide under uncertainty.?

• Simon is also known as the father of bounded rationality,

– which he understood as the study of the match (or mismatch)
between heuristics and decision environments.
– This program was later extended into the study of
ecological rationality.
 Basics on heuristics
• There are many different kinds of heuristics that can be
tailored to
– solve many different types of problems in
• everything from psychology to technology design to economics.

• Some of these heuristic processes include:

a) availability heuristics,
b) representativeness heuristics,
c) anchoring heuristics,
d) affect heuristics,
e) consistency heuristics, and
f) control heuristics, etc
 Basics on heuristics
• Heuristic processes are used to find answers
and solutions most likely to work or be
correct.
• This does not mean however, that heuristics
are always right.

• Heuristic processes can easily be confused

with the use of human logic, and probability.
 Basics on heuristics
• While these processes share some characteristics with
heuristics, the assertion that heuristics are not as
accurate as logic and probability misses the crucial
distinction between risk and uncertainty.

• Risk refers to situations where all possible outcomes of an

action are known and taken into account when making a
decision.

• In contrast, uncertainty refers to situations where pieces

of information are unknown or unknowable.
 What is a Heuristic Search?
• A Heuristic is a technique to solve a problem
faster than classic methods, or to find an
approximate solution when classic methods
cannot.

• This is a kind of a shortcut as we often trade

one of optimality, completeness, accuracy, or
precision for speed.
 What is a Heuristic Search?
• A Heuristic (or a heuristic function) takes a
look at search algorithms.
• At each branching step,
– it evaluates the available information and
– makes a decision on which branch to follow.
• It does so by ranking alternatives.
• The Heuristic is
– any device that is often effective but will not
guarantee work in every case.
 BACKTRACKING SEARCH
• A variant of depth-first search called
backtracking search uses
– less memory and
– only one successor is generated at a time rather
than all successors.;
– Only O(m) memory is needed rather than O(bm)
 Heuristic Search
• Reasons for heuristics
• impossible for exact solution, heuristics lead to promising
path
• no exact solution but an acceptable one
• fallible due to limited information

• Intelligence for a system with limited processing resources

consists in making wise choices of what to do next

• Heuristics = Search Algorithm + Measure

 What are the 3 types of heuristics?
• In their initial research, Tversky and Kahneman
proposed three heuristics—
a. availability
b. Representativeness and
c. anchoring and adjustment.

• Subsequent work has identified many more.

• Heuristics that underlie judgment are called

"judgment heuristics".
 Heuristic Search :
h(n)=67
h(n)=34 E
A*
•Important aspect: formation of
heuristic function (h(n)).
D h(n)=9
•Heuristic function  additional
h(n)=12
knowledge to guide searching
strategy (short cut). B C*
•Distance: heuristic function can
be straight line distance (SLD) h(n)=24 h(n)=0

TIN 5013: Artificial Intelligence

 What is heuristic function?
• Best move is the one with the least cost.
• It can also be defined thus as a function that
– ranks alternatives in search algorithms at each
branching step based on available information to
decide which branch to follow.

• Heuristics function:
– h(s) = Number of places with incorrect block
immediately on top of it
 What is heuristic function?
• Heuristic Function is a function that estimates
– the cost of getting from one place to another (from the current
state to the goal state.) Also called as simply a heuristic.
• Used in a decision process to try to make the best choice
of a list of possibilities
– (to choose the move more likely to lead to the goal state.)
• Best move is the one with the least cost.
• It can also be defined thus as a function that
– ranks alternatives in search algorithms at each branching step
based on available information to decide which branch to
follow.
 Example
• Example for Blocks World Problem:
• Consider below mentioned Start & Goal states
for Blocks World
Heuristic Search : Heuristic Function

TIN 5013: Artificial Intelligence

 Heuristic Search :Greedy-Best Search

•Tries to expand the node that is closest to the

goal.
•Evaluates using only heuristic function : f(n) = h(n)
•Possibly lead to the solution very fast.
•Problem ? ~ can end up in sub-optimal solutions
(doesn’t take notice of the distance it travels).
•Complexity and time:
•Complete & optimal ? : No (stuck in infinite loop)

TIN 5013: Artificial Intelligence

Heuristic Search :Greedy-Best Search

TIN 5013: Artificial Intelligence

Heuristic Search :Greedy-Best Search

TIN 5013: Artificial Intelligence

 Issues in Heuristic Search
•Searching using heuristic function does not solely on
directed solution  but the best algorithm to find shortest
path towards goal.
•Admissible  attempt to find possible shortest path to a
goal whenever it exists.
•Informedness  question in what sense the heuristic
function is better than another.
•Monotonicity  question if the best state is discovered by
heuristic search, is there any guarantee that the same state
won’t be found later at lowest searching cost?
Thank you