Informed search algorithms

UNIT-2
Chapter 4
Important terms
 Informed search strategy is one that uses problem-specific
knowledge beyond the definition of the problem itself. It can find
solutions more efficiently than uninformed strategy
 A heuristic function or simply a heuristic is a function that ranks
alternatives in various search algorithms at each branching step basing
on an available information in order to make a decision which branch is
to be followed during a search.
Outline
 Best-first search
 Greedy best-first search
 A* search
 Heuristics
 Memory Bounded A* Search
Best-first search
 Idea: use an evaluation function f(n) for each node
 f(n) provides an estimate for the total cost.
 Expand the node n with smallest f(n).

 Implementation:
Order the nodes in fringe increasing order of cost.

 Special cases:
 greedy best-first search
 A* search
Romania with straight-line dist.
 Greedy best-first search
 f(n) = estimate of cost from n to goal
 e.g., f(n) = straight-line distance from n
to Bucharest
 Greedy best-first search expands the
node that appears to be closest to goal.
Greedy best-first search
example
Greedy best-first search
example
Greedy best-first search
example
Greedy best-first search
example
Properties of greedy best-first
search Think of
an
example

 Complete? No – can get stuck in loops.

 Time? O(bm), but a good heuristic can give
dramatic improvement
 Space? O(bm) - keeps all nodes in memory
 Optimal? No
e.g. AradSibiuRimnicu
VireaPitestiBucharest is shorter!
 Properties of greedy best-first
search
d

c
b g

a goal state
start state

f(n) = straightline distance

A* search
 Idea: avoid expanding paths that are already
expensive
 Evaluation function f(n) = g(n) + h(n)
 g(n) = cost so far to reach n
 h(n) = estimated cost from n to goal
 f(n) = estimated total cost of path through n to
goal
 Best First search has f(n)=h(n)
 Uniform Cost search has f(n)=g(n)
 Admissible heuristics
 A heuristic h(n) is admissible if for every node n,
h(n) ≤ h*(n), where h*(n) is the true cost to reach the
goal state from n.
 An admissible heuristic never overestimates the cost to
reach the goal, i.e., it is optimistic
 Example: hSLD(n) (never overestimates the actual road
distance)
 Theorem: If h(n) is admissible, A* using TREE-SEARCH
is optimal
Admissible heuristics
E.g., for the 8-puzzle:
 h1(n) = number of misplaced tiles
 h2(n) = total Manhattan distance
(i.e., no. of squares from desired location of each tile)

 h1(S) = ?
 h2(S) = ?
Admissible heuristics
E.g., for the 8-puzzle:
 h1(n) = number of misplaced tiles
 h2(n) = total Manhattan distance
(i.e., no. of squares from desired location of each tile)

 h1(S) = ? 8
 h2(S) = ? 3+1+2+2+2+3+3+2 = 18
Dominance
 If h2(n) ≥ h1(n) for all n (both admissible)
 then h2 dominates h1
 h2 is better for search: it is guaranteed to expand
less or equal nr of nodes.

 Typical search costs (average number of nodes

expanded):

 d=12 IDS = 3,644,035 nodes

A*(h1) = 227 nodes
A*(h2) = 73 nodes
 d=24 IDS = too many nodes
A*(h1) = 39,135 nodes
A*(h2) = 1,641 nodes
 Relaxed problems
 A problem with fewer restrictions on the actions
is called a relaxed problem
 The cost of an optimal solution to a relaxed
problem is an admissible heuristic for the
original problem
 If the rules of the 8-puzzle are relaxed so that a
tile can move anywhere, then h1(n) gives the
shortest solution
 If the rules are relaxed so that a tile can move
to any adjacent square, then h2(n) gives the
shortest solution
Consistent heuristics
 A heuristic is consistent if for every node n, every successor n' of n
generated by any action a,

h(n) ≤ c(n,a,n') + h(n')

 If h is consistent, we have

f(n’) = g(n’) + h(n’) (by def.)

= g(n) + c(n,a,n') + h(n’) (g(n’)=g(n)+c(n.a.n’))
≥ g(n) + h(n) = f(n) (consistency)
f(n’) ≥ f(n)
It’s the triangle
 i.e., f(n) is non-decreasing along any path. inequality !

 Theorem: keeps all checked nodes

If h(n) is consistent, A* using GRAPH-SEARCH is optimal
in memory to avoid repeated
states
A* search example
A search example
*
A* search example
A* search example
A* search example
A* search example
 Properties of A*
 Complete? Yes (unless there are infinitely many
nodes with f ≤ f(G) , i.e. step-cost > ε)
 Time/Space? Exponential b d
except if: | h (n )  h * (n ) | O (log h * (n ))
 Optimal? Yes
 Optimally Efficient: Yes (no algorithm with the
same heuristic is guaranteed to expand fewer nodes)
 Optimality of A* (proof)
 Suppose some suboptimal goal G2 has been generated and is in
the fringe. Let n be an unexpanded node in the fringe such that n
is on a shortest path to an optimal goal G.
We want to prove:
f(n) < f(G2)
(then A* will prefer n over G2)

 f(G2) = g(G2) since h(G2) = 0

 f(G) = g(G) since h(G) = 0
 g(G2) > g(G) since G2 is suboptimal

f(G2) > f(G) from above
 h(n) ≤ h*(n) since h is admissible (under-estimate)
 g(n) + h(n) ≤ g(n) + h*(n) from above
 f(n) ≤ f(G) since g(n)+h(n)=f(n) & g(n)+h*(n)=f(G)
 f(n) < f(G2) from
 Exercise SEARCH TREE

R
9 1

1) Consider the search tree to the right. A B

There are 2 goal states, G1 and G2. 1 2
The numbers on the edges represent step-costs.
You also know the following heuristic estimates: C D
h(BG2) = 9, h(DG2)=10, h(AG1)=2, h(CG1)=1 1 10

a) In what order will A* search visit the G1 G2

nodes? Explain your answer by indicating the value of
the evaluation function for those nodes that the
algorithm considers.
 straight-line distances
6 1
3 A D F 1 h(S-G)=10
h(A-G)=7
2 4 8
S B E G h(D-G)=1
h(F-G)=1
1 h(B-G)=10
20
C h(E-G)=8
h(C-G)=20

try yourself

The graph above shows the step-costs for different paths going from the start (S) to
the goal (G). On the right you find the straight-line distances.

1. Draw the search tree for this problem. Avoid repeated states.

2. Give the order in which the tree is searched (e.g. S-C-B...-G) for A* search.
Use the straight-line dist. as a heuristic function, i.e. h=SLD,
and indicate for each node visited what the value for the evaluation function, f, is.
 Memory Bounded Heuristic
Search: Recursive BFS
 How can we solve the memory problem for
A* search?
 Idea: Try something like depth first search,
but let’s not forget everything about the
branches we have partially explored.
 We remember the best f-value we have
found so far in the branch we are deleting.
RBFS:
best alternative
over fringe nodes,
which are not children:
i.e. do I want to back up?

RBFS changes its mind

very often in practice.

This is because the

f=g+h become more
accurate (less optimistic)
as we approach the goal.
Hence, higher level nodes
have smaller f-values and
will be explored first.

Problem: We should keep

in memory whatever we can.
 Simple Memory Bounded A*
 This is like A*, but when memory is full we delete the
worst node (largest f-value).
 Like RBFS, we remember the best descendent in the
branch we delete.
 If there is a tie (equal f-values) we delete the oldest
nodes first.
 simple-MBA* finds the optimal reachable solution
given the memory constraint. A Solution is not reachable
 Time can still be exponential. if a single path from root to goal
does not fit into memory
SMA* pseudocode (not in 2nd edition 2 of
book)
function SMA*(problem) returns a solution sequence
inputs: problem, a problem
static: Queue, a queue of nodes ordered by f-cost

Queue  MAKE-QUEUE({MAKE-NODE(INITIAL-STATE[problem])})
loop do
if Queue is empty then return failure
n  deepest least-f-cost node in Queue
if GOAL-TEST(n) then return success
s  NEXT-SUCCESSOR(n)
if s is not a goal and is at maximum depth then
f(s)  
else
f(s)  MAX(f(n),g(s)+h(s))
if all of n’s successors have been generated then
update n’s f-cost and those of its ancestors if necessary
if SUCCESSORS(n) all in memory then remove n from Queue
if memory is full then
delete shallowest, highest-f-cost node in Queue
remove it from its parent’s successor list
insert its parent on Queue if necessary
insert s in Queue
end
 Simple Memory-bounded A* (SMA*)
(Example with 3-node memory) maximal depth is 3, since
memory limit is 3. This
Progress of SMA*. Each node is labeled with its current f-cost. branch is now useless.
Values in parentheses show the value of the best forgotten
descendant. best forgotten node
Search space best estimated solution
so far for that node
f = g+h ☐ = goal A
13[15]
A
0+12=12 A A A
12 12
10 8 13
G
B G 13
10+5=15 8+5=13
B B G
10 10 8 16 15
18 H
20+5=25
C D
16+2=18
H I 15 13

20+0=20 24+0=24
10 10 A A A
8 8 15[15] 15[24] 20[24]
E F J K
A 8
15
30+5=35 30+0=30 24+0=24 24+5=29 G B B
15 20[]
24[]

B G
I D
15 24 C 25
24
 20

Algorithm can tell you when best solution found within memory constraint is optimal or not.
 Conclusions
 The Memory Bounded A* Search is the
best of the search algorithms we have
seen so far. It uses all its memory to avoid
double work and uses smart heuristics to
first descend into promising branches of
the search-tree.