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SEARCH STRATEGIES IN ALGORITHMNS

The document outlines various search strategies in algorithms, categorizing them into uninformed, informed, local search algorithms, and other strategies. Uninformed search methods include BFS, DFS, and Uniform Cost Search, while informed searches utilize heuristics, such as A* and Greedy Best-First Search. Additionally, local search algorithms like Genetic Algorithms and Tabu Search focus on optimizing solutions, and other strategies include Minimax and Monte Carlo Tree Search for specific applications.

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3 views

SEARCH STRATEGIES IN ALGORITHMNS

The document outlines various search strategies in algorithms, categorizing them into uninformed, informed, local search algorithms, and other strategies. Uninformed search methods include BFS, DFS, and Uniform Cost Search, while informed searches utilize heuristics, such as A* and Greedy Best-First Search. Additionally, local search algorithms like Genetic Algorithms and Tabu Search focus on optimizing solutions, and other strategies include Minimax and Monte Carlo Tree Search for specific applications.

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sirwilber5
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SEARCH STRATEGIES IN ALGORITHMNS.

1. Uninformed Search (Blind Search)

These algorithms don’t have any information about the problem beyond the problem definition.
They explore the search space without considering which path might be more promising.

• Breadth-First Search (BFS)


o Explores all possible nodes level by level.
o Guarantees the shortest path in an unweighted graph.
o Space complexity can be large.
• Depth-First Search (DFS)
o Explores as deep as possible along each branch before backtracking.
o Less memory-intensive than BFS but can get stuck in deep or infinite paths.
o May not find the shortest path.
• Uniform Cost Search
o Similar to BFS but accounts for varying costs along different paths.
o It always expands the least costly path first, guaranteeing an optimal solution.
• Depth-Limited Search
o A DFS variant where you limit the depth of the search.
o Helps to avoid getting stuck in infinite paths but still can miss the solution if it’s
beyond the depth limit.
• Iterative Deepening Search
o A hybrid between BFS and DFS. It performs DFS with increasing depth limits.
o Combines the space efficiency of DFS with the optimality of BFS, but can be
slower due to repetitive node expansions.

2. Informed Search (Heuristic Search)

These algorithms use heuristics (problem-specific knowledge) to guide the search more
efficiently toward the goal.

• A Search*
o Combines both the cost to reach a node and an estimate of the cost to reach the
goal (heuristic).
o Guarantees the shortest path if the heuristic is admissible (never overestimates the
true cost).
o One of the most widely used algorithms for pathfinding and AI problems.
• Greedy Best-First Search
o Selects the node that appears to be closest to the goal based on a heuristic.
o Not optimal, but can be faster than A* if the heuristic is good enough.
• Hill Climbing
o A local search algorithm that keeps moving towards the best neighboring node
until it reaches a peak (local maximum) or goal.
o Prone to getting stuck in local maxima.
• Simulated Annealing
o A probabilistic algorithm that allows moves to worse solutions to escape local
minima, inspired by the physical process of annealing in metallurgy.
o Eventually, the probability of making a worse move decreases as the algorithm
progresses.
• Iterative Deepening A (IDA)**
o Combines iterative deepening with A* search. It’s particularly useful for
problems with large state spaces where maintaining the entire search tree is
impractical.

3. Local Search Algorithms

These focus on improving an initial solution, often used for optimization problems.

• Greedy Search
o Chooses the best immediate option without considering future consequences.
o Fast but not guaranteed to find the optimal solution.
• Genetic Algorithms
o Inspired by evolution. Solutions evolve over generations through operations like
crossover and mutation to improve over time.
• Tabu Search
o Uses memory structures to avoid revisiting previous solutions, allowing it to
explore new parts of the search space.
• Ant Colony Optimization
o Inspired by the foraging behavior of ants, this algorithm simulates the process of
ants finding the shortest path to food and uses pheromones to guide the search.

4. Other Search Strategies

• Minimax (for Game Theory)


o Used in two-player zero-sum games like chess or tic-tac-toe. It explores the game
tree and chooses the move that maximizes the player's minimum gain, assuming
the opponent plays optimally.
• Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS)
o Used for decision-making in games, it builds a search tree and explores the most
promising nodes using random simulations.
• Beam Search
o A variation of BFS that keeps only the most promising nodes at each level,
reducing memory usage. It's often used in machine learning tasks, like natural
language processing.

Choosing the Right Strategy:


• Uninformed Search is useful when you don't know anything about the problem's
structure.
• Informed Search is great when you have domain knowledge (heuristics).
• Local Search and Optimization Algorithms are ideal for problems with large state
spaces or when you only need a good solution (not necessarily the optimal one).

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