Scribd
Upload
90 views

Alpha Beta Pruning Notes

Alpha-Beta pruning is an optimization technique for the minimax algorithm that reduces computation time by pruning branches that are determined to not contain better moves than what has already been found. It works by passing alpha and beta parameters during minimax searches, where alpha is the best value the maximizer can guarantee and beta is the best value the minimizer can guarantee, allowing branches to be pruned early when it is clear neither player will gain anything from exploring them further.

Uploaded by

Parth Syandan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
90 views

Alpha Beta Pruning Notes

Alpha-Beta pruning is an optimization technique for the minimax algorithm that reduces computation time by pruning branches that are determined to not contain better moves than what has already been found. It works by passing alpha and beta parameters during minimax searches, where alpha is the best value the maximizer can guarantee and beta is the best value the minimizer can guarantee, allowing branches to be pruned early when it is clear neither player will gain anything from exploring them further.

Uploaded by

Parth Syandan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

Alpha-Beta Pruning

Alpha-Beta pruning is not actually a new algorithm, rather an optimization technique for
minimax algorithm. It reduces the computation time by a huge factor. This allows us to
search much faster and even go into deeper levels in the game tree. It cuts off branches
in the game tree which need not be searched because there already exists a better
move available. It is called Alpha-Beta pruning because it passes 2 extra parameters in
the minimax function, namely alpha and beta.
Let’s define the parameters alpha and beta.
Alpha is the best value that the maximizer currently can guarantee at that level or
above.
Beta is the best value that the minimizer currently can guarantee at that level or above.

Let’s make above algorithm clear with an example.

• The initial call starts from A. The value of alpha here is -INFINITY and the value of
beta is +INFINITY. These values are passed down to subsequent nodes in the
tree. At A the maximizer must choose max of B and C, so A calls B first
• At B it the minimizer must choose min of D and E and hence calls D first.
• At D, it looks at its left child which is a leaf node. This node returns a value of 3.
Now the value of alpha at D is max( -INF, 3) which is 3.
• To decide whether its worth looking at its right node or not, it checks the condition
beta<=alpha. This is false since beta = +INF and alpha = 3. So it continues the
search.
• D now looks at its right child which returns a value of 5.At D, alpha = max(3, 5)
which is 5. Now the value of node D is 5
• D returns a value of 5 to B. At B, beta = min( +INF, 5) which is 5. The minimizer is
now guaranteed a value of 5 or lesser. B now calls E to see if he can get a lower
value than 5.
• At E the values of alpha and beta is not -INF and +INF but instead -INF and 5
respectively, because the value of beta was changed at B and that is
what B passed down to E
• Now E looks at its left child which is 6. At E, alpha = max(-INF, 6) which is 6. Here
the condition becomes true. beta is 5 and alpha is 6. So beta<=alpha is true.
Hence it breaks and E returns 6 to B
• Note how it did not matter what the value of E‘s right child is. It could have been
+INF or -INF, it still wouldn’t matter, We never even had to look at it because the
minimizer was guaranteed a value of 5 or lesser. So as soon as the maximizer saw
the 6 he knew the minimizer would never come this way because he can get a 5
on the left side of B. This way we dint have to look at that 9 and hence saved
computation time.
• E returns a value of 6 to B. At B, beta = min( 5, 6) which is 5.The value of
node B is also 5
So far this is how our game tree looks. The 9 is crossed out because it was never
computed.

• B returns 5 to A. At A, alpha = max( -INF, 5) which is 5. Now the maximizer is


guaranteed a value of 5 or greater. A now calls C to see if it can get a higher value
than 5.
• At C, alpha = 5 and beta = +INF. C calls F
• At F, alpha = 5 and beta = +INF. F looks at its left child which is a 1. alpha = max(
5, 1) which is still 5.
• F looks at its right child which is a 2. Hence the best value of this node is 2. Alpha
still remains 5
• F returns a value of 2 to C. At C, beta = min( +INF, 2). The condition beta <= alpha
becomes true as beta = 2 and alpha = 5. So it breaks and it does not even have to
compute the entire sub-tree of G.
• The intuition behind this break off is that, at C the minimizer was guaranteed a
value of 2 or lesser. But the maximizer was already guaranteed a value of 5 if he
choose B. So why would the maximizer ever choose C and get a value less than 2
? Again you can see that it did not matter what those last 2 values were. We also
saved a lot of computation by skipping a whole sub tree.
• C now returns a value of 2 to A. Therefore the best value at A is max( 5, 2) which
is a 5.
• Hence the optimal value that the maximizer can get is 5
This is how our final game tree looks like. As you can see G has been crossed out as it
was never computed.

You might also like