MSc.

3rd Sem

Unit -1
 Artificial Intelligence
• According to the father of Artificial Intelligence, John McCarthy, it is “The
science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent
computer programs”.
• Artificial Intelligence is a way of making a computer, a computer-controlled
robot, or a software think intelligently, in the similar manner the intelligent
humans think.

• AI is accomplished by studying how human brain thinks, and how humans

learn, decide, and work while trying to solve a problem, and then using the
outcomes of this study as a basis of developing intelligent software and
systems.
• Artificial Intelligence is the study of building agents that act rationally. Most
of the time, these agents perform some kind of search algorithm in the
background in order to achieve their tasks. 
 Goals of AI
• To Create Expert Systems − The systems which
exhibit intelligent behavior, learn,
demonstrate, explain, and advice its users.

• To Implement Human Intelligence in Machines

− Creating systems that understand, think,
learn, and behave like humans.
• AI Technique is a manner to organize and use
the knowledge efficiently in such a way that −
• It should be perceivable by the people who
provide it.
• It should be easily modifiable to correct
errors.
• It should be useful in many situations though
it is incomplete or inaccurate.
 Applications of AI
• Gaming − AI plays crucial role in strategic games such as chess, poker, tic-tac-toe, etc., where machine
can think of large number of possible positions based on heuristic knowledge.

• Natural Language Processing − It is possible to interact with the computer that understands natural
language spoken by humans.

• Expert Systems − There are some applications which integrate machine, software, and special
information to impart reasoning and advising. They provide explanation and advice to the users.

• Vision Systems − These systems understand, interpret, and comprehend visual input on the computer.
For example,

• A spying aero plane takes photographs, which are used to figure out spatial information or map of the
areas.

• Doctors use clinical expert system to diagnose the patient.

• Police use computer software that can recognize the face of criminal with the stored portrait made by
forensic artist.
• Speech Recognition − Some intelligent systems are capable of hearing and
comprehending the language in terms of sentences and their meanings
while a human talks to it. It can handle different accents, slang words,
noise in the background, change in human’s noise due to cold, etc.

• Handwriting Recognition − The handwriting recognition software reads

the text written on paper by a pen or on screen by a stylus. It can
recognize the shapes of the letters and convert it into editable text.

• Intelligent Robots − Robots are able to perform the tasks given by a

human. They have sensors to detect physical data from the real world such
as light, heat, temperature, movement, sound, bump, and pressure. They
have efficient processors, multiple sensors and huge memory, to exhibit
intelligence. In addition, they are capable of learning from their mistakes
and they can adapt to the new environment.
 State Space Search
• State space search is a process used in the field of computer science, including
artificial intelligence (AI), in which successive configurations or states of an
instance are considered, with the intention of finding a goal state with a
desired property.

• Problems are often modelled as a state space, a set of states that a problem can
be in. The set of states forms a graph where two states are connected if there is
an operation that can be performed to transform the first state into the second.

• State space search often differs from traditional computer science search
methods because the state space is implicit: the typical state space graph is
much too large to generate and store in memory. Instead, nodes are generated
as they are explored, and typically discarded thereafter.
• A solution to a combinatorial search instance may consist of the goal state
itself, or of a path from some initial state to the goal state.
Representation: a state space is formally represented as
a tuple
• S is the set of all possible states;
• A is the set of possible actions, not related to
a particular state but regarding all the state
space;
• Action(s) is the function that establish which
action is possible to perform in a certain state;
• Result (s,a) is the function that returns the
state reached performing action a in state s.
• Cost(s,a) is the cost of performing an action a
in state s.
 A search problem consists of
• A State Space: Set of all possible states where you can
be.
• A Start State: The state from where the search begins.
• A Goal Test: A function that looks at the current state
returns whether or not it is the goal state.
• The Solution to a search problem is a sequence of
actions, called the plan that transforms the start state
to the goal state.
• This plan is achieved through search algorithms
 Search Algorithms in Artificial Intelligence

• Problem-solving agents:
• In Artificial Intelligence, Search techniques are
universal problem-solving methods. Rational agents
or Problem-solving agents in AI mostly used these
search strategies or algorithms to solve a specific
problem and provide the best result.
• Problem-solving agents are the goal-based agents
and use atomic representation. In this topic, we will
learn various problem-solving search algorithms.
• Search tree: A tree representation of search problem is called Search
tree. The root of the search tree is the root node which is
corresponding to the initial state.
• Actions: It gives the description of all the available actions to the
agent.
• Transition model: A description of what each action do, can be
represented as a transition model.
• Path Cost: It is a function which assigns a numeric cost to each path.
• Solution: It is an action sequence which leads from the start node to
the goal node.
• Optimal Solution: If a solution has the lowest cost among all
solutions.
 Properties of Search Algorithms

• Completeness: A search algorithm is said to be complete if it guarantees

to return a solution if at least any solution exists for any random input.

• Optimality: If a solution found for an algorithm is guaranteed to be the

best solution (lowest path cost) among all other solutions, then such a
solution for is said to be an optimal solution.

• Time Complexity: Time complexity is a measure of time for an algorithm

to complete its task.

• Space Complexity: It is the maximum storage space required at any point

during the search, as the complexity of the problem.
Types of search algorithms
 Uninformed/Blind Search

• The uninformed search does not contain any domain knowledge such as closeness,
the location of the goal. It operates in a brute-force way as it only includes
information about how to traverse the tree and how to identify leaf and goal nodes.
• Uninformed search applies a way in which search tree is searched without any
information about the search space like initial state operators and test for the goal,
so it is also called blind search. It examines each node of the tree until it achieves
the goal node.

• It can be divided into five main types:

• Breadth-first search
• Uniform cost search
• Depth-first search
• Iterative deepening depth-first search
• Bidirectional Search
 Informed Search

• Informed search algorithms use domain knowledge.

In an informed search, problem information is
available which can guide the search. Informed
search strategies can find a solution more efficiently
than an uninformed search strategy. Informed search
is also called a Heuristic search.

• A heuristic is a way which might not always be

guaranteed for best solutions but guaranteed to find
a good solution in reasonable time.
• Informed search can solve much complex problem
which could not be solved in another way.

• An example of informed search algorithms is a

traveling salesman problem.

• Greedy Search
• A* Search
 Uninformed Search Algorithms

• 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.
Each of these algorithms will have:
• A problem graph, containing the start node S and the
goal node G.
• A strategy, describing the manner in which the graph
will be traversed to get to G.
• A fringe, which is a data structure used to store all the
possible states (nodes) that you can go from the
current states.
• A tree, that results while traversing to the goal node.
• A solution plan, which the sequence of nodes from S to
G.
 Breadth-first Search
• 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.
• 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.
• The breadth-first search algorithm is an example of a
general-graph search algorithm.
• Breadth-first search implemented using FIFO queue data
structure.
• Advantages:
• BFS will provide a solution if any solution
exists.
• 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:
• It requires lots of memory since each level of
the tree must be saved into memory to
expand the next level.
• 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:
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.
• 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
Question. Which solution would BFS find to move from node S to
node G if run on the graph below?
• Solution. The equivalent search tree for the
above graph is as follows. As BFS traverses the
tree “shallowest node first”, it would always
pick the shallower branch until it reaches the
solution (or it runs out of nodes, and goes to
the next branch). The traversal is shown in
blue arrows.
Path: S -> D -> G
 Depth-first Search
• Depth-first search is a recursive algorithm for
traversing a tree or graph data structure.
• 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.
• DFS uses a stack data structure for its
implementation.
• The process of the DFS algorithm is similar to the
BFS algorithm.
• Advantage:
• 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.
• It takes less time to reach to the goal node than BFS algorithm
(if it traverses in the right path).
• Disadvantage:
• There is the possibility that many states keep re-occurring,
and there is no guarantee of finding the solution.
• DFS algorithm goes for deep down searching and sometime it
may go to the infinite loop.
 Setp1: S->A , push B
Step2: A->B->D , pop D
Step3: A->B->E , Push E
Step4: A->C->G
Step 5: S->A->C->G (final solution, path)
 Example:
• 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:
• T(n)= 1+ n^2+ n^3 +.........+ 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).
Example: Which solution would DFS find to move from node S to node G if
run on the graph below?
• Solution. The equivalent search tree for the
above graph is as follows. As DFS traverses the
tree “deepest node first”, it would always pick
the deeper branch until it reaches the solution
(or it runs out of nodes, and goes to the next
branch). The traversal is shown in blue arrows.
Path:   S -> A -> B -> C -> G
 Uniform Cost Search
• UCS is different from BFS and DFS because here the
costs come into play. In other words, traversing via
different edges might not have the same cost. The
goal is to find a path where the cumulative sum of
costs is the least.

• Cost of a node is defined as:

• cost(node) = cumulative cost of all nodes from root
• cost(root) = 0
• 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.
Question. Which solution would UCS find to move from node S
to node G if run on the graph below?
• Solution. The equivalent search tree for the above graph
is as follows. The cost of each node is the cumulative
cost of reaching that node from the root.
• Based on the UCS strategy, the path with the least
cumulative cost is chosen.
• Note that due to the many options in the fringe, the
algorithm explores most of them so long as their cost is
low, and discards them when a lower-cost path is found;
• these discarded traversals are not shown below. The
actual traversal is shown in blue.
Path: S -> A -> B -> G
• Cost: 5
• Let C = cost of solution.
• ἐ = arcs cost.
• Effective path
• Advantages:
• UCS is complete only if states are finite and
there should be no loop with zero weight.
• UCS is optimal only if there is no negative cost.
• Disadvantages:

• Explores options in every “direction”.

• No information on goal location.
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.
 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:

• Standard failure value: It indicates that problem does not have any
solution.
• Cutoff failure value: It defines no solution for the problem within a
given depth limit.
• Advantages:
• Depth-limited search is Memory efficient.
• Disadvantages:
• Depth-limited search also has a disadvantage
of incompleteness.
• It may not be optimal if the problem has more
than one solution.
Example: S->B->J
• Completeness: DLS search algorithm is complete if the
solution is above the depth-limit. Otherwise it is
uncomplete.
• 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.
 Iterative deepening Depth-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:

• It combines the benefits of BFS and DFS search

algorithm in terms of fast search and memory
efficiency.
• Disadvantages:

• The main drawback of IDDFS is that it repeats all

the work of the previous phase.
 Example: IDDFS algorithm performs various iterations
until it does not find the goal node.
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 if
the 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.
 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:

• Bidirectional search is fast.

• Bidirectional search requires less memory
• Disadvantages:

• Implementation of the bidirectional search tree is difficult.

• In bidirectional search, one should know the goal state in
advance.
Example: 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).

• Space Complexity: Space complexity of bidirectional

search is O(bd).

• Optimal: Bidirectional search is Optimal.