Uninformed Search Algorithms

Introduction
Whoever it may be (humans or machine learning models) need to think of all
possible ways to reach the goal state(if it exists) from the initial state or
current state, all the consequences, etc. Similarly, AI systems or python
programming uses various search algorithms for a particular goal state(if it
exists) or for some problem-solving. ‘Uninformed Search’, as the name
suggests, means the machine blindly follows the algorithm regardless of
whether right or wrong, efficient or in-efficient.
These algorithms are brute force operations, and they don’t have additional
information about the search space; the only information they have is on how
to traverse or visit the nodes in the tree. Thus uninformed search algorithms
are also called blind search algorithms. The search algorithm produces the
search tree without using any domain knowledge, which is a brute force in
nature. They don’t have any background information like informed search
algorithms on how to approach the goal or whatsoever. But these are the
basics of search algorithms in AI.
Learning Objectives
 Get acquainted with the different types of uninformed search algorithms,
their uses, advantages, and disadvantages.
 Learn to compare between them and choose the most befitting one for your
model.
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.
Types of Uninformed Search Algorithms
The different types of uninformed search algorithms used in AI are as
follows:
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

State: It provides all the information about the environment.

Goal State: The desired resulting condition in a given problem and the kind
of search algorithm we are looking for.
Goal Test: The test to determine whether a particular state is a goal state.
Path/Step Cost: These are integers that represent the cost to move from one
node to another node.
Space Complexity: A function describing the amount of space(memory) an
algorithm takes in terms of input to the algorithm.
Time Complexity: A function describing the amount of time the algorithm
takes in terms of input to the algorithm.
Optimal: Extent of preference of the algorithm
‘b‘ – maximum branching factor in a tree.
‘d‘ – the depth of the least-cost solution.
‘m‘ – maximum depth state space(maybe infinity)
Now let’s dive deep into each type of algorithm.

1. Breadth-first Search: Skip 10s

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:
1. 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. Time
Complexity: O (bd)
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: Time Complexity: O (bm)
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. 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:
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 is
O(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 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 It combines 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 ifthe 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.
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.
Completeness: Bidirectional Search is complete if we use BFS in both
searches.
Time Complexity: Time complexity of bidirectional search using BFS
is O(bd/2).
Space Complexity: Space complexity of bidirectional search is O(bd/2).
Optimal: Bidirectional search is Optimal.

Final Interpretations
The Uninformed Search strategy for searching is a multipurpose strategy that
combines the power of unguided search and works in a brute-force way. The
algorithms of this strategy can be applied to a variety of problems in
computer science as they don’t have the information related to state space
and target problems, and they do not know how to traverse trees.
 Conclusion

This is the complete analysis of all the Uninformed Search Strategies. Each

search algorithm is no less than the other, and we can use any one of the

search strategies based on the problem. The term ‘uninformed’ means that

they do not have any additional information about states or state space. Thus

we conclude “uninformed algorithm” is an algorithm that doesn’t use any

prior knowledge or heuristics to solve a problem.

Key Takeaways

 Uninformed algorithms are used in search problems, where the goal is to find

a solution by exploring a large search space.

 Uninformed algorithms are often simple to implement and can be effective in

solving certain problems, but they may also be less efficient than informed

algorithms that use heuristics to guide their search.