/

'. l\rtificial IntellIgence Project-H,RIE B.nd 1:11T Computation. Center

r1e!.l1o 30 (Revi sed) ....

by D. J& Edwards and T. p~ Hart

October 28, 1963

(T.11:[.s memo i.s a ~"ev:tsed version o:E ~'he TreeLruIl.~_mJ l\.~~:tthn\, AI Uemo 30
Dec<ambcr l!- 1 1961.)

Th~ Ct~iL.!i~ur!st~.

by D. .J.. Edwards and T. P. Hart

Th? a-p heul.':U;tic is a method for prunl.ng um.leeded branches fz:om.

the move tree of a gamco The algo2~:U:hm makes UEH: of info:l."mation gained

about part of the tree to reject those b1.\9.nclles ~.yhich will not affect

the principle variation...

'l'he reasoning behind the a"'~ heuristic is a.s follow'S:

a) if the maximizing-player finds a move \~hose value j.s greater

than or equal to the value of an alte~~late minimizing-player move found

higher. in the tree, he should not look furtber because the rHin-player

would certainly take that alternate moveo

b) if the min-player finds a mO'TJC whose value i c

_0 less than

or equal to the value of au alte'!'l1ute ma;}{ ... player move fouud higher in

the tz'ee, he should not look further because the max-player would certainly

take that 301 terna:te. move.

max

a
I/'> min

/ v 0)

Case" '(tiJ may be illustrated hy the above piec.e of tree.. The max'"

player has investigated the branch with value a and has looked at an alter ...

nate mo'v'e from the 110:i.1ll: at '(;,michthis brancb 'twas found 4 At the time the

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value v is established the maximi.:f.ing player (t'Jn.ose pO.illt of vie~\f ;;-]8 are

taking) sees that if he 'Cakes the right br.'iilCh from the top node he 1s

giving the other player the opportunity to take the v branch. But th:ts

vlil1 i:esul t i11 his getting v or less !I and since he can get O! by t.2kll1g

the left branch, he instantly decides that he won't mru<e the move to the

1,:'ight under any ci.rcumstance ..

The following definitio11S e:r:press the 0:-[3 heuristic:

'VTr:,ax[pos;a;~] :::: [if final[pos;a;!3] thel1. evaluate[pos]

else vlmaX[succ[posl;a;~]]

v~m,sx[lis ;a;t3] 0: [if null [lis] f:hen a

else if vmin[car[lis] ;a:;f3} ..;> J3 then tl
else vlmax{cdr[lis];

max[vmi11.[ca.r[1:i.s] ;a;p] ;cd;

f3] ]

vmin[pos;a;ll] : :.: [if final[pos;a;fl] then evalu31;e[pos]

else vlmin[succ[pos];a;~]]

vlminlis ;0;;13] = [.~

1.J: 111.1 ldl~1']
L J.l.S th A
' .. (,~n !"

else if vmax[ca:r[lin] ;a;f3] ~ a the!l at

else vlmin[cdr[lis];
a; ,
min[vmax[car[lis] ;a;ll] ;13]]]

2! stands for some r.epresentation of the current pos1tion&

Jis is a li.st of position repzoese1L1tations.

~[pos] is a function vJi1ich produces a. list of positions '(mich can be

reached in one move from pq~o

f:t~!!l[pOS ;cqf,l] ill a predicate "tmi.ch may decide that the sea.rch is not
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from the poin.t of vievl of maximizing player).

a and ~ are initially set at ... co and "I.. CO respectj.vely"

This heu:o:-istic may readily be compared wIth a minimax search by

obsel"'Ving that i:f. the second clauses in the. c.onditional expression. fo:c

vlm~ and ~ are elimina.ted the resulting fUl1ction is just min:f.ma:-!: ..

It is important to note that the ordering of the list of moves gener'"

ated by JluCC is very important. The most gain is achie"led from the heur-

istic when the right move is at the beginning of the list.

It turns out that at best, that is, in the case of perfect orde1:-il1g

the a-l) heuristic can cut a tl:ee I s e:~q)onential gro'\3'i:h rate in h.alf, thus

allowing almoct t"t..r.tce the search depth for the same effoL't.. 110re pre-

cisely: He have the following theorem

Theo!-~~:n (Levin): Let n be the number of plies in a. tree, and let b be

the number of branches at eve!:y br.a~'1ch po:tnt. '!llC11. the number: of terminal

points on the tree is

ll
T = b

However, if the best possible advantage is taken of the a-~ heuristic

then the number of terminal points that need be exanuned is

!l1:l !!:l
T= b -~2 .!... b 2 ... 1. fot" odd n
n
T :;: 2b
'2 .,. 1 for even n

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i:Hrminal nodes need be examil1l'!d. ACGording to f;he fo:ouula for n f:;'J;?,;:

llhere b :t.i: 3 and n ~ .4 only 17 out of the 81 possible nodes need ~:;, '!,~ .'~:1

and this i~ sho\m to he true in this case.. lQote that: the unlahe., .(;).]

m(?~y have any possible value and the l:esult will still be unch.-2uged ..