CS361 Artificial

Intelligence
Software Engineering Computer
Science
Programme
Dept.
Lecture 3 Helwan
University
Problem Solving as
Search & State Space
Search
3.1 Solving Problems by Searching
 Types of Agents (Reflex vs. Planning) - State Space Search
- Example: Tic-Tac-Toe Game - Example: Mechanical
Fault Diagnosing - How human beings think? - Heuristic
Search
3.2
 State Space
Search Search
problem Graph & Strategies
components - State Space & State Space
Graph - Examples: Vacuum World, The 8-Puzzle, Romania,
etc. - State Space Search Strategies - Selecting Search Facult
Strategy
3.3 Basic Idea of Search & the Backtracking Search y of
Algorithm
Search: Basic idea - Search Tree - Tree Search Algorithm- Computers &
Outline & Example - Handling Repeated States - Artificial
Backtracking Search Algorithm & Data Structures Intelligence
Where are we now .. ?!
1: Course Introduction
2: An introduction to Artificial
& Plan
Intelligence [AI] 3: Intelligent Agents,
& AI Related Disciplines
4: Solving Problems by Searching, and State Space Search
Strategies & Structures 5: Knowledge Representation via
Propositional & Predicate Calculi
6: Problem Solving as Search (Blind / Uninformed vs. Heuristic /
Informed Strategies) 7: Problem Solving as Search (More on
Heuristic Search + Adversarial Search)
8: Beyond Classical Search (Evolutionary / Genetic Algorithms)
9: Heuristic Optimization, Hill Climbing, Gradient Descent, &
Simulated Annealing
10: Supervised Machine Learning: Decision Trees via the ID3 Algorithm + Business
Intelligence app. via Weka 11: The Learning Problem, the Perceptron, & the Perceptron
Learning Algorithm [PLA]
12: Multilayer Perceptron [MLP], & an introduction to Artificial Neural Networks
[ANNs] o Artificial Intelligence, University of California, Berkeley
13: Loss Functions, Weights Optimization, & Support
o S. Russell Vector
& P. Norvig, Machines
"Artificial [SVMs]A Modern
Intelligence:
Approach,"
Course 3rd Ed.are based on their counterparts in the
& Lectures
o G. Luger, "Artificial Intelligence: Structures & Strategies for
following:
by o Complex
Intelligent Problem Solving,"of5th
Systems, University Ed. Columbia (Dept. of
British
o W. Ertel, "Introduction to Artificial Intelligence," 2nd
CS)
Dr. Amr S. Ghoneim
Ed.
Lecture 3: Solving Problem by Searching,
.. & .. State Space Search Strategies and
Structures
3.1 Solving problems by  Example: Tic-Tac-Toe
Searching  Example: Traveling
 Solving Problems by Salesperson
Searching  State Space Search
 Types of Agents (Reflex vs. Strategies
Planning)  Selecting Search Strategy
 State Space Search
 Example: Tic-Tac-Toe Game 3.3 Basic Idea of Search & the
Backtracking Search Algorithm
 Example: Mechanical Fault
 Search: Basic idea
Diagnosing
 Search Tree
 How human beings think?
 Tree Search Algorithm Outline
 Heuristic Search
 Tree Search Example
3.2 State Space Search Graph  Handling repeated states
& Strategies  Backtracking Search
 Search problem components
 Backtracking Algorithm Data
 Example: Romania Structures
Resources for this
lecture
• This lecture covers the following chapters:
• Chapter 3 (Solving Problems by Searching; only sections 3.1,
3.2, & 3.3) from Stuart J. Russell and Peter Norvig, "Artificial
Intelligence: A Modern Approach," Third Edition (2010), by
Pearson Education Inc.
.. AND ..
• Part II (pages 41 to 45) and Chapter 3 (Structures and
Strategies for State Space Search; only sections 3.0, 3.1, and
3.2) from George F. Luger, "Artificial Intelligence: Structures
and strategies for complex problem solving, " Fifth Edition
(2005), Pearson Education 4
Limited.
Solving Problems by
SEARCHING
 Types
ofAgents
a Reflex Agent : a Planning agent :

Considers how the world IS Considers how the world WOULD BE

• Choose action based on current • Decisions based on (hypothesized)
percept. consequences of actions.
• Do not consider the future • Must have a model of how the world
consequences of actions. evolves in response to actions.
• Must formulate a goal.

Source: D. Klein, P.
State Space
Search
Problems are solved by searching among alternative choices.
o Humans consider several alternative strategies on their way
to solving a problem.

o A Chess player considers a few alternative moves.

o A mathematician chooses from a different strategies to
find a proof for a theorem.

o A physician evaluates several possible diagnoses.

Example:Tic-Tac-Toe
Game

X X X
X X X
X X X

O O O
X X X O X X O X X X
O O O
Example:Mechanical Fault
Diagnosing Start ask:
What is the problem?

Engine trouble
ask:
Transmission
ask:………
breaks
ask: ……
…
Does the car
start?
Ye No
s
Engine starts Engine won’t start ask:
ask:………. Will engine turn over?

Yes No battery
Ye
ok
s
Turn over Won’t turn over ask: No
ask: …….. Do lights come on? battery
dead
How Human Beings
Think ..?
• Human beings do not search the entire state space
(exhaustive search).
• Only alternatives that experience has shown to be effective
are explored.
• Human problem solving is based on judgmental rules that
limit the exploration of search space to those portions of
state space that seem somehow promising.
• These judgmental rules are known as “heuristics”.
Heuristic
Search
• A heuristic is a strategy for selectively exploring the search
space.
• It guides the search along lines that have a high probability of
success.
• It employs knowledge about the nature of a problem to find a
solution.
• It does not guarantee an optimal solution to the problem but
can come close most of the time.
• Human beings use many heuristics in problem solving.
 Exercises
What have we
learned?
Define the following terms:
 State Space Graph,
 Exhaustive Search, and ..
 Heuristics.

 Describe briefly the difference between a

Planning Agent & a Reflex Agent.

 Give examples of Heuristics that human

beings
employ in any domain.
 Up Next ..
Additional Section
3.2

Resources
 Searching:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0yCDZe6Tnk
 State Space Problems:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngkXAcjeNWE
Lecture 3: Solving Problem by Searching,
.. & .. State Space Search Strategies and
Structures
3.1 Solving problems by  Example: Tic-Tac-Toe
Searching  Example: Traveling
 Solving Problems by Salesperson
Searching  State Space Search
 Types of Agents (Reflex vs. Strategies
Planning)  Selecting Search Strategy
 State Space Search
 Example: Tic-Tac-Toe Game 3.3 Basic Idea of Search & the
Backtracking Search Algorithm
 Example: Mechanical Fault
 Search: Basic idea
Diagnosing
 Search Tree
 How Human Beings Think?
 Tree Search Algorithm Outline
 Heuristic Search
 Tree Search Example
3.2 State Space Search Graph  Handling repeated states
& Strategies  Backtracking Search
 Search Problem Components
 Backtracking Algorithm Data
 Example: Romania Structures
Searc
h
We will consider the problem of designing goal-
based agents in fully observable, deterministic,
discrete, known environments.
Start State

Goal State
Searc
h
We will consider the problem of designing goal-based
agents in fully observable, deterministic, discrete, known
environments.

The agent must find a sequence of actions that reaches the

goal. The performance measure is defined by:
(a) reaching the goal, and ..
(b) how “expensive” the path to the goal is.
Search Problem
Components
Initial state
Initial
State
Actions
Transition model
What state results from
performing a given action
in each state?
Goal state
Solution Path
Path cost
Assume Goal
that it is a Stat
sum of e
Thenonnegativ
optimal solution is the sequence of actions that gives the
e step
lowest pathcostscost for reaching the goal.
 Example:Roman
ia
- On vacation in Romania; currently in
Arad.
- Flight leaves tomorrow from
Bucharest.

Initial state
o Arad
Actions
o Go from one city to another
Transition Model
o If you go from city A to
city B, you end up in city B
Goal State
o Bucharest
Path Cost
o Sum of edge costs (total distance
State
Space
The initial state, actions, and transition model define
the state
space of the problem;
• The set of all states reachable from initial state
by any sequence of actions.
• Can be represented as a directed graph
where the nodes are states and links
between nodes are actions.

What is the state space for the Romania problem?

State
Space
An AI problem can be represented as a state space graph.
A graph is a set of nodes and links that connect them.
Graph theory:
o Labeled graph. ○ Parent.
o Directed graph. ○ Child.
o Path. ○ Sibling.
o Rooted graph. ○ Ancestor.
o Tree. ○ Descendant.
State Space
Graph Theory, Kônigsberg Bridges Problem,
& Euler Tour ..

Riverbank 1

4
River

Island 1 1 Island 2

Riverbank 2
State
Space
A state space is represented by four-tuple [N, A, S, GD].
o N, is the set of nodes or states of the graph.
These
correspond to the states in the problem-solving
process.
o A, is the set of arcs between nodes. These correspond to
the steps in a problem-solving process.
o S, a nonempty subset of N, contains the start-state (s) of
the problem.
o GD, a nonempty subset of N, contains the goal-state(s) of
the problem. The states in GD are described using either:
o A measurable property of the states encountered in
the search.
o A property of the solution path developed in the
 Example: Vacuum
World

o States:
o Agent location and dirt location
o How many possible states?
o What if there are n possible locations?
o The size of the state space grows
exponentially with the “size” of the
world!
o Actions:
o Left, right, suck.
o Transition Model .. ?
 Example:Vacuum World State Space
Graph
o Transition Model:
Example: the8-
Puzzle
o States
o Locations of tiles
o 8-puzzle: 181,440 states
(9!/2)
o 15-puzzle: ~10 trillion
states
o 24-puzzle: ~1025 states
o Actions
o Move blank left, right, up,
down
o Path Cost
o 1 per move
Example: Robot Motion
Planning

o States
o Real-valued joint parameters (angles,
displacements).
o Actions
o Continuous motions of robot joints.
o Goal State
o Configuration in which object is grasped.
o Path Cost
o Time to execute, smoothness of path, etc.
Example: Tic-Tac-
Toe
• Nodes(N): all the different configuration of Xs and Os
that the game can have.
• Arcs (A): generated by legal moves by placing an X or
an O in unused location.
• Start state (S): an empty board.
• Goal states (GD): a board state having three Xs in a
row, column, or diagonal.
• The arcs are directed, then no cycles in the state space,
directed acyclic graph (DAG).
• Complexity: 9! Different paths can be generated.
Example: Traveling
Salesperson
A salesperson has five cites to visit and ten must return home.
•Nodes(N): represent 5 cites.
•Arcs(A): labeled with weight indicating the cost of traveling
between connected cites.
•Start state(S): a home city.
•Goal states(GD): an entire path contains a complete circuit
with minimum cost.
•Complexity: (n-1)! Different cost-weighted paths can be
generated.
State Space Search
Strategies
There are two distinct ways for searching a state space graph:

 Data-Driven Search: (Forward chaining)

Start searching from the given data of a problem
instance toward a goal.

 Goal-Driven Search: (Backward chaining)

Start searching from a goal state to facts or data of the given
problem.
State Space Search
Strategies..
Selecting Search Strategy
Data-Driven Search is suggested if:
o The data are given in the initial problem statement.
o There are few ways to use the given facts.
o There are large number of potential goals.
o It is difficult to form a goal or hypothesis.

Goal- Driven Search is appropriate if:

o A goal is given in the problem statement or can easily
formulated.
o There are large number of rules to produce a new
facts.
o Problem data are not given but acquired by the problem
solver.
 Exercises
What have we
learned?
Define the following terms: Path, Rooted Graph, Tree.
 Describe using drawing the Kongsberg problem "Euler Tour."
 Determine whether goal-driven or data-driven search would
be preferable for solving each of the following problems.
Justify your answer.
 You have met a person who claims to be your distant
cousin, with a common ancestor named John Doe. You
would like to verify her claim.
 Another person claims to be your distant cousin. He
doesn't know the common ancestor's name but knows
that it was no more than eight generations back. You
would like to either find this ancestor or determine that
she didn't exist.
 A theorem prover for plane geometry.
 Up Next ..
Additional Section
3.3

Resources
 Backward & Forward Chaining
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhTt-GG7PiQ
Lecture 3: Solving Problem by Searching,
.. & .. State Space Search Strategies and
Structures
3.1 Solving problems by  Example: Tic-Tac-Toe
Searching  Example: Traveling
 Solving Problems by Salesperson
Searching  State Space Search
 Types of Agents (Reflex vs. Strategies
Planning)  Selecting Search Strategy
 State Space Search
 Example: Tic-Tac-Toe Game 3.3 Basic Idea of Search & the
Backtracking Search Algorithm
 Example: Mechanical Fault
 Search: Basic idea
Diagnosing
 Search Tree
 How human beings think?
 Tree Search Algorithm Outline
 Heuristic Search
 Tree Search Example
3.2 State Space Search Graph  Handling repeated states
& Strategies  Backtracking Search
 Search problem components
 Backtracking Algorithm Data
 Example: Romania Structures
Search ..
?
Given:
 Initial state
 Actions
 Transition model
 Goal state
 Path cost

How do we find the optimal solution?

Search: Basic
idea
o Let’s begin at the start state and expand it by making a

list of all possible successor states.

o Maintain a frontier or a list of unexpanded states.

o At each step, pick a state from the frontier to expand.

o Keep going until you reach a goal state.

o Try to expand as few states as possible.

Search: Basic
idea

Start
Search: Basic
idea
Search: Basic
idea
Search: Basic
idea
Search: Basic
idea
Search: Basic
idea
Search: Basic
idea
Search: Basic
idea
Search: Basic
idea
Search: Basic
idea
Search: Basic
idea
Search: Basic
idea
 Starting
Search Tree (theWhat-if State

“What tree)
if” tree of sequences of actions and Action
outcomes; Successor
 I.e., When we are searching, we are not acting State

in the world, merely “thinking” about the

possibilities.
 The root node corresponds to the starting
state.
 The children of a node correspond to the
…
successor states of that node’s state. Frontier
 A path through the tree corresponds to a Goal
State
sequence of actions.
Nodes
A solution is a..?path
vs. States ending
A state in the goal state
is a representation of the world, while a node is a data
structure that is part of the search tree. Node must keep pointer to parent, path
cost, possibly other info.
Tree Search Algorithm
Outline
Initialize the frontier using the starting state.

While the frontier is not empty:

• Choose a frontier node according to search strategy

and take it off the frontier.

• If the node contains the goal state, return solution.

• Else expand the node and add its children to the

frontier.
 Tree Search
Example

Start: Arad
Goal: Bucharest
 Tree Search
Example

Start: Arad
Goal: Bucharest
 Tree Search
Example

Start: Arad
Goal: Bucharest
Handling Repeated
States
- Initialize the frontier using the starting state
- While the frontier is not empty
- Choose a frontier node according to search strategy
and take it off the frontier.
- If the node contains the goal state, return solution Else
expand the node and add its children to
the frontier.

To handle repeated states:

Every time you expand a node, add that state to the
explored set; do not put explored states on the frontier
again.
Every time you add a node to the frontier, check
whether it already exists with a higher path cost, and if
yes, replace that node with the new one.
Backtracking
Search
“Backtracking is a technique for systematically trying all
paths through a state space”
It begins at the start state and pursues a path until:
•Finding a goal, then quit and return the solution path.
•Finding a dead end, then backtrack to the most recent
unexamined node and continue down one of
its
branches.
Backtracking
Search
Start
Node

Dead Dead Dead

Dead End
End End
End
Backtracking Algorithm Data
Structures
o State List (SL): lists the states in the current path being
tried. If the goal is found, then it contains the solution
path.
o New State List (NSL): contains nodes a waiting
evaluation.
o Dead Ends (DE): lists states whose descendants have
failed to contain a goal node.
o Current State (CS): a state currently under consideration.
 theBacktracking
Algorithm
Function Backtrack;
Begin
SL := [Start]; NSL := [Start]; DE :=
Start; while NSL# [ ] do
begin
if CS = goal (or meets goal
description) then return
(SL);
if CS has no children (excluding nodes already on DE, SL, and NSL)
then begin
while SL is not empty and CS = the first element of SL
do begin
add CS to DE;
remove first element from SL; remove
first element from NSL; CS :=
first element of NLS;
end;
add CS to SL;
end
else begin
place children of CS on NSL; (except nodes on DE, SL, or NSL) CS :=
first element of NSL;
add CS to SL;
end;
end;
return FAIL;
 Exercises
What have we
learned?
The following are two problems that can be solved
using state-space search techniques. You should:
 Suggest a suitable representation for the problem
state.
 State what the initial and final states are in this
representation.
 State the available operators/rules for getting
from one state to the next, giving any conditions
on when they may be applied.
 Draw the first two levels of the directed state-
space graph for the given problem.
 Exercises
What have we
learned?
[Problem # 1] The Cannibals and Missionaries problem: "Three
cannibals and three missionaries come to a crocodile infested
river. There is a boat on their side that can be used by either
one or two persons. If cannibals outnumber the missionaries at
any time, the cannibals eat the missionaries. How can they
use the boat to cross the river so that all missionaries
survive?" Formalize the problem in terms of state-space
search.
 [Problem # 2] A farmer with his dog, rabbit and lettuce come
to the east side of a river they wish to cross. There is a boat at
the river’s edge, but of course only the farmer can row. The
boat can only hold two things (including the rower) at any one
time. If the dog is ever left alone with the rabbit, the dog will
eat it. Similarly, if the rabbit is ever left alone with the lettuce,
the rabbit will eat it. How can the farmer get across the river
 Up Next ..
Additional Section
3.4
Resources (video
lesson)
 Backtracking (Solving a Maze – C++)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBC_Fd8EE8A
 N Queen Problem | Backtracking:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DeznFqrgAI
Sudoku (Visualisation) | Backtracking:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vWRZiDUGH
U

Thank