Search Algorithms in Artificial Intelligence

Search algorithms are one of the most important areas of Artificial Intelligence. This
topic will explain all about the search algorithms in AI.

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 Algorithm Terminologies:

o Search: Searching is a step by step procedure to solve a search-problem in a
given search space. A search problem can have three main factors:
1. Search Space: Search space represents a set of possible solutions, which a
system may have.
2. Start State: It is a state from where agent begins the search.
3. Goal test: It is a function which observe the current state and returns
whether the goal state is achieved or not.
o 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.
o Actions: It gives the description of all the available actions to the agent.
o Transition model: A description of what each action do, can be represented as a
transition model.
o Path Cost: It is a function which assigns a numeric cost to each path.
o Solution: It is an action sequence which leads from the start node to the goal
node.
o Optimal Solution: If a solution has the lowest cost among all solutions.

Properties of Search Algorithms:

Following are the four essential properties of search algorithms to compare the
efficiency of these 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

Based on the search problems we can classify the search algorithms into
uninformed (Blind search) search and informed search (Heuristic 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:

o Breadth-first search
o Uniform cost search
o Depth-first search
o Iterative deepening depth-first search
o 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.

1. Greedy Search
2. 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.

Following are the various types of uninformed search algorithms:

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

1. Breadth-first Search:
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.

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.

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:

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 Cut off 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 isO(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 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:

o Itcombines 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).

Space Complexity: Space complexity of bidirectional search is O(bd).

Optimal: Bidirectional search is Optimal.

Informed Search Algorithms
So far we have talked about the uninformed search algorithms which looked through
search space for all possible solutions of the problem without having any additional
knowledge about search space. But informed search algorithm contains an array of
knowledge such as how far we are from the goal, path cost, how to reach to goal node,
etc. This knowledge help agents to explore less to the search space and find more
efficiently the goal node.

The informed search algorithm is more useful for large search space. Informed search
algorithm uses the idea of heuristic, so it is also called Heuristic search.

Heuristics function: Heuristic is a function which is used in Informed Search, and it

finds the most promising path. It takes the current state of the agent as its input and
produces the estimation of how close agent is from the goal. The heuristic method,
however, might not always give the best solution, but it guaranteed to find a good
solution in reasonable time. Heuristic function estimates how close a state is to the goal.
It is represented by h(n), and it calculates the cost of an optimal path between the pair
of states. The value of the heuristic function is always positive.

Admissibility of the heuristic function is given as:

1. h(n) <= h*(n)

Here h(n) is heuristic cost, and h*(n) is the estimated cost. Hence heuristic cost
should be less than or equal to the estimated cost.

Pure Heuristic Search:

Pure heuristic search is the simplest form of heuristic search algorithms. It expands
nodes based on their heuristic value h(n). It maintains two lists, OPEN and CLOSED list.
In the CLOSED list, it places those nodes which have already expanded and in the OPEN
list, it places nodes which have yet not been expanded.

On each iteration, each node n with the lowest heuristic value is expanded and
generates all its successors and n is placed to the closed list. The algorithm continues
unit a goal state is found.

In the informed search we will discuss two main algorithms which are given below:
 o Best First Search Algorithm(Greedy search)
o A* Search Algorithm

1.) Best-first Search Algorithm (Greedy Search):

Greedy best-first search algorithm always selects the path which appears best at that
moment. It is the combination of depth-first search and breadth-first search algorithms.
It uses the heuristic function and search. Best-first search allows us to take the
advantages of both algorithms. With the help of best-first search, at each step, we can
choose the most promising node. In the best first search algorithm, we expand the node
which is closest to the goal node and the closest cost is estimated by heuristic function,
i.e.

1. f(n)= g(n).

Were, h(n)= estimated cost from node n to the goal.

The greedy best first algorithm is implemented by the priority queue.

Best first search algorithm:

o Step 1: Place the starting node into the OPEN list.

o Step 2: If the OPEN list is empty, Stop and return failure.
o Step 3: Remove the node n, from the OPEN list which has the lowest value of
h(n), and places it in the CLOSED list.
o Step 4: Expand the node n, and generate the successors of node n.
o Step 5: Check each successor of node n, and find whether any node is a goal
node or not. If any successor node is goal node, then return success and
terminate the search, else proceed to Step 6.
o Step 6: For each successor node, algorithm checks for evaluation function f(n),
and then check if the node has been in either OPEN or CLOSED list. If the node
has not been in both list, then add it to the OPEN list.
o Step 7: Return to Step 2.
Advantages:

o Best first search can switch between BFS and DFS by gaining the advantages of
both the algorithms.
o This algorithm is more efficient than BFS and DFS algorithms.

Disadvantages:

o It can behave as an unguided depth-first search in the worst case scenario.

o It can get stuck in a loop as DFS.
o This algorithm is not optimal.

Example:
Consider the below search problem, and we will traverse it using greedy best-first
search. At each iteration, each node is expanded using evaluation function f(n)=h(n) ,
which is given in the below table.
In this search example, we are using two lists which are OPEN and CLOSED Lists.
Following are the iteration for traversing the above example.

Expand the nodes of S and put in the CLOSED list

Initialization: Open [A, B], Closed [S]

Iteration 1: Open [A], Closed [S, B]

Iteration 2: Open [E, F, A], Closed [S, B]

: Open [E, A], Closed [S, B, F]

Iteration 3: Open [I, G, E, A], Closed [S, B, F]

: Open [I, E, A], Closed [S, B, F, G]

Hence the final solution path will be: S----> B----->F----> G

Time Complexity: The worst case time complexity of Greedy best first search is O(bm).

Space Complexity: The worst case space complexity of Greedy best first search is
O(bm). Where, m is the maximum depth of the search space.

Complete: Greedy best-first search is also incomplete, even if the given state space is
finite.
Optimal: Greedy best first search algorithm is not optimal.

2.) A* Search Algorithm:

A* search is the most commonly known form of best-first search. It uses heuristic
function h(n), and cost to reach the node n from the start state g(n). It has combined
features of UCS and greedy best-first search, by which it solve the problem efficiently. A*
search algorithm finds the shortest path through the search space using the heuristic
function. This search algorithm expands less search tree and provides optimal result
faster. A* algorithm is similar to UCS except that it uses g(n)+h(n) instead of g(n).

In A* search algorithm, we use search heuristic as well as the cost to reach the node.
Hence we can combine both costs as following, and this sum is called as a fitness
number.

Algorithm of A* search:
Step1: Place the starting node in the OPEN list.

Step 2: Check if the OPEN list is empty or not, if the list is empty then return failure and
stops.

Step 3: Select the node from the OPEN list which has the smallest value of evaluation
function (g+h), if node n is goal node then return success and stop, otherwise

Step 4: Expand node n and generate all of its successors, and put n into the closed list.
For each successor n', check whether n' is already in the OPEN or CLOSED list, if not then
compute evaluation function for n' and place into Open list.

Step 5: Else if node n' is already in OPEN and CLOSED, then it should be attached to the
back pointer which reflects the lowest g(n') value.

Step 6: Return to Step 2.

Advantages:

o A* search algorithm is the best algorithm than other search algorithms.

o A* search algorithm is optimal and complete.
o This algorithm can solve very complex problems.

Disadvantages:

o It does not always produce the shortest path as it mostly based on heuristics and
approximation.
o A* search algorithm has some complexity issues.
o The main drawback of A* is memory requirement as it keeps all generated nodes
in the memory, so it is not practical for various large-scale problems.

Example:
In this example, we will traverse the given graph using the A* algorithm. The heuristic
value of all states is given in the below table so we will calculate the f(n) of each state
using the formula f(n)= g(n) + h(n), where g(n) is the cost to reach any node from start
state.
Here we will use OPEN and CLOSED list.
Solution:

Initialization: {(S, 5)}

Iteration1: {(S--> A, 4), (S-->G, 10)}

Iteration2: {(S--> A-->C, 4), (S--> A-->B, 7), (S-->G, 10)}

Iteration3: {(S--> A-->C--->G, 6), (S--> A-->C--->D, 11), (S--> A-->B, 7), (S-->G, 10)}

Iteration 4 will give the final result, as S--->A--->C--->G it provides the optimal path
with cost 6.

Points to remember:

o A* algorithm returns the path which occurred first, and it does not search for all
remaining paths.
o The efficiency of A* algorithm depends on the quality of heuristic.
o A* algorithm expands all nodes which satisfy the condition f(n)<="" li="">

Complete: A* algorithm is complete as long as:

 o Branching factor is finite.
o Cost at every action is fixed.

Optimal: A* search algorithm is optimal if it follows below two conditions:

o Admissible: the first condition requires for optimality is that h(n) should be an
admissible heuristic for A* tree search. An admissible heuristic is optimistic in
nature.
o Consistency: Second required condition is consistency for only A* graph-search.

If the heuristic function is admissible, then A* tree search will always find the least cost
path.

Time Complexity: The time complexity of A* search algorithm depends on heuristic

function, and the number of nodes expanded is exponential to the depth of solution d.
So the time complexity is O(b^d), where b is the branching factor.

Space Complexity: The space complexity of A* search algorithm is O(b^d)

Hill Climbing Algorithm in Artificial Intelligence

o Hill climbing algorithm is a local search algorithm which continuously moves in
the direction of increasing elevation/value to find the peak of the mountain or
best solution to the problem. It terminates when it reaches a peak value where no
neighbor has a higher value.
o Hill climbing algorithm is a technique which is used for optimizing the
mathematical problems. One of the widely discussed examples of Hill climbing
algorithm is Traveling-salesman Problem in which we need to minimize the
distance traveled by the salesman.
o It is also called greedy local search as it only looks to its good immediate
neighbor state and not beyond that.
 o A node of hill climbing algorithm has two components which are state and value.
o Hill Climbing is mostly used when a good heuristic is available.
o In this algorithm, we don't need to maintain and handle the search tree or graph
as it only keeps a single current state.

Features of Hill Climbing:

Following are some main features of Hill Climbing Algorithm:

o Generate and Test variant: Hill Climbing is the variant of Generate and Test
method. The Generate and Test method produce feedback which helps to decide
which direction to move in the search space.
o Greedy approach: Hill-climbing algorithm search moves in the direction which
optimizes the cost.
o No backtracking: It does not backtrack the search space, as it does not
remember the previous states.

State-space Diagram for Hill Climbing:

The state-space landscape is a graphical representation of the hill-climbing algorithm
which is showing a graph between various states of algorithm and Objective
function/Cost.

On Y-axis we have taken the function which can be an objective function or cost
function, and state-space on the x-axis. If the function on Y-axis is cost then, the goal of
search is to find the global minimum and local minimum. If the function of Y-axis is
Objective function, then the goal of the search is to find the global maximum and local
maximum.

Global Maximum: Global maximum is the best possible state of state space landscape.
It has the highest value of objective function.

Current state: It is a state in a landscape diagram where an agent is currently present.

Flat local maximum: It is a flat space in the landscape where all the neighbor states of
current states have the same value.

Shoulder: It is a plateau region which has an uphill edge.

Types of Hill Climbing Algorithm:
o Simple hill Climbing:
o Steepest-Ascent hill-climbing:
o Stochastic hill Climbing:

1. Simple Hill Climbing:

Simple hill climbing is the simplest way to implement a hill climbing algorithm. It only
evaluates the neighbor node state at a time and selects the first one which
optimizes current cost and set it as a current state. It only checks it's one successor
state, and if it finds better than the current state, then move else be in the same state.
This algorithm has the following features:

o Less time consuming

o Less optimal solution and the solution is not guaranteed

Algorithm for Simple Hill Climbing:

o Step 1: Evaluate the initial state, if it is goal state then return success and Stop.
o Step 2: Loop Until a solution is found or there is no new operator left to apply.
o Step 3: Select and apply an operator to the current state.
o Step 4: Check new state:
1. If it is goal state, then return success and quit.
2. Else if it is better than the current state then assign new state as a current
state.
3. Else if not better than the current state, then return to step2.
o Step 5: Exit.

2. Steepest-Ascent hill climbing:

The steepest-Ascent algorithm is a variation of simple hill climbing algorithm. This
algorithm examines all the neighboring nodes of the current state and selects one
neighbor node which is closest to the goal state. This algorithm consumes more time as
it searches for multiple neighbors
Algorithm for Steepest-Ascent hill climbing:

o Step 1: Evaluate the initial state, if it is goal state then return success and stop,
else make current state as initial state.
o Step 2: Loop until a solution is found or the current state does not change.
1. Let SUCC be a state such that any successor of the current state will be
better than it.
2. For each operator that applies to the current state:
I. Apply the new operator and generate a new state.
II. Evaluate the new state.
III. If it is goal state, then return it and quit, else compare it to the
SUCC.
IV. If it is better than SUCC, then set new state as SUCC.
V. If the SUCC is better than the current state, then set current state to
SUCC.
o Step 5: Exit.

3. Stochastic hill climbing:

Stochastic hill climbing does not examine for all its neighbor before moving. Rather, this
search algorithm selects one neighbor node at random and decides whether to choose
it as a current state or examine another state.

Problems in Hill Climbing Algorithm:

1. Local Maximum: A local maximum is a peak state in the landscape which is better
than each of its neighboring states, but there is another state also present which is
higher than the local maximum.

Solution: Backtracking technique can be a solution of the local maximum in state space
landscape. Create a list of the promising path so that the algorithm can backtrack the
search space and explore other paths as well.
2. Plateau: A plateau is the flat area of the search space in which all the neighbor states
of the current state contains the same value, because of this algorithm does not find any
best direction to move. A hill-climbing search might be lost in the plateau area.

Solution: The solution for the plateau is to take big steps or very little steps while
searching, to solve the problem. Randomly select a state which is far away from the
current state so it is possible that the algorithm could find non-plateau region.

3. Ridges: A ridge is a special form of the local maximum. It has an area which is higher
than its surrounding areas, but itself has a slope, and cannot be reached in a single
move.

Solution: With the use of bidirectional search, or by moving in different directions, we

can improve this problem.
Simulated Annealing:
A hill-climbing algorithm which never makes a move towards a lower value guaranteed
to be incomplete because it can get stuck on a local maximum. And if algorithm applies
a random walk, by moving a successor, then it may complete but not
efficient. Simulated Annealing is an algorithm which yields both efficiency and
completeness.

In mechanical term Annealing is a process of hardening a metal or glass to a high

temperature then cooling gradually, so this allows the metal to reach a low-energy
crystalline state. The same process is used in simulated annealing in which the algorithm
picks a random move, instead of picking the best move. If the random move improves
the state, then it follows the same path. Otherwise, the algorithm follows the path which
has a probability of less than 1 or it moves downhill and chooses another path.
Different regions in the state space landscape:
Local Maximum: Local maximum is a state which is better than its neighbor states, but
there is also another state which is higher than it.

Means-Ends Analysis in Artificial Intelligence

o We have studied the strategies which can reason either in forward or backward,
but a mixture of the two directions is appropriate for solving a complex and large
problem. Such a mixed strategy, make it possible that first to solve the major part
of a problem and then go back and solve the small problems arise during
combining the big parts of the problem. Such a technique is called Means-Ends
Analysis.
o Means-Ends Analysis is problem-solving techniques used in Artificial intelligence
for limiting search in AI programs.
o It is a mixture of Backward and forward search technique.
o The MEA technique was first introduced in 1961 by Allen Newell, and Herbert A.
Simon in their problem-solving computer program, which was named as General
Problem Solver (GPS).
 o The MEA analysis process centered on the evaluation of the difference between
the current state and goal state.

How means-ends analysis Works:

The means-ends analysis process can be applied recursively for a problem. It is a
strategy to control search in problem-solving. Following are the main Steps which
describes the working of MEA technique for solving a problem.

a. First, evaluate the difference between Initial State and final State.
b. Select the various operators which can be applied for each difference.
c. Apply the operator at each difference, which reduces the difference between the
current state and goal state.

Operator Subgoaling
In the MEA process, we detect the differences between the current state and goal state.
Once these differences occur, then we can apply an operator to reduce the differences.
But sometimes it is possible that an operator cannot be applied to the current state. So
we create the subproblem of the current state, in which operator can be applied, such
type of backward chaining in which operators are selected, and then sub goals are set
up to establish the preconditions of the operator is called Operator Subgoaling.

Algorithm for Means-Ends Analysis:

Let's we take Current state as CURRENT and Goal State as GOAL, then following are the
steps for the MEA algorithm.

o Step 1: Compare CURRENT to GOAL, if there are no differences between both

then return Success and Exit.
o Step 2: Else, select the most significant difference and reduce it by doing the
following steps until the success or failure occurs.
1. Select a new operator O which is applicable for the current difference, and
if there is no such operator, then signal failure.
2. Attempt to apply operator O to CURRENT. Make a description of two
states.
 i) O-Start, a state in which O?s preconditions are satisfied.
ii) O-Result, the state that would result if O were applied In O-start.
3. If
(First-Part <------ MEA (CURRENT, O-START)
And
(LAST-Part <----- MEA (O-Result, GOAL), are successful, then signal
Success and return the result of combining FIRST-PART, O, and LAST-
PART.

Example of Mean-Ends Analysis:

Let's take an example where we know the initial state and goal state as given below. In
this problem, we need to get the goal state by finding differences between the initial
state and goal state and applying operators.

Solution:
To solve the above problem, we will first find the differences between initial states and
goal states, and for each difference, we will generate a new state and will apply the
operators. The operators we have for this problem are:

o Move
o Delete
o Expand

1. Evaluating the initial state: In the first step, we will evaluate the initial state and will
compare the initial and Goal state to find the differences between both states.
2. Applying Delete operator: As we can check the first difference is that in goal state
there is no dot symbol which is present in the initial state, so, first we will apply
the Delete operator to remove this dot.

3. Applying Move Operator: After applying the Delete operator, the new state occurs
which we will again compare with goal state. After comparing these states, there is
another difference that is the square is outside the circle, so, we will apply the Move
Operator.

4. Applying Expand Operator: Now a new state is generated in the third step, and we
will compare this state with the goal state. After comparing the states there is still one
difference which is the size of the square, so, we will apply Expand operator, and finally,
it will generate the goal state.