Search Algorithms

in
Artificial Intelligence
Search algorithms are one of the most important areas of
Artificial Intelligence.

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.
Search Algorithm Terminologies:
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:
• Search Space: Search space represents a set of possible
solutions, which a system may have.
• Start State: It is a state from where agent begins the search.
• Goal test: It is a function which observe the current state and
returns whether the goal state is achieved or not.
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.
Actions: It gives the description of all the available actions to the agent.

Transition model: A description of what each action do, can be represented as

a transition model.

Path Cost: It is a function which assigns a numeric cost to each path.

Solution: It is an action sequence which leads from the start node to the goal
node.

Optimal Solution: If a solution has the lowest cost among all solutions.
Properties of Search 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
Types of search algorithms
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:
• Breadth-first Search
• Depth-first Search
• Depth-limited Search
• Iterative deepening depth-first search
• Uniform cost search
• Bidirectional Search
1. Breadth-first Search
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.

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.

The breadth-first search algorithm is an example of a general-graph search

algorithm.

Breadth-first search implemented using FIFO queue data structure.

Algorithm for BFS
Step 1: SET STATUS = 1 (ready state) for each node in G

Step 2: Enqueue the starting node A and set its STATUS = 2 (waiting state)

Step 3: Repeat Steps 4 and 5 until QUEUE is empty

Step 4: Dequeue a node N. Process it and set its STATUS = 3 (processed state).

Step 5: Enqueue all the neighbours of N that are in the ready state (whose STATUS = 1) and set their STATUS = 2 (waiting state)
[END OF LOOP]

Step 6: EXIT
Example:
In the given 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:

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.
Advantages:

BFS will provide a solution if any solution exists.

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:

It requires lots of memory since each level of the tree

must be saved into memory to expand the next level.

BFS needs lots of time if the solution is far away

from the root node.
2. Depth-first Search
2. Depth-first Search
• Depth-first search is a recursive algorithm for traversing a
tree or graph data structure.
• 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.
• DFS uses a stack data structure for its implementation.
• The process of the DFS algorithm is similar to the BFS
algorithm.
Algorithm for DFS
Step 1: SET STATUS = 1 (ready state) for each node in G

Step 2: Push the starting node A on the stack and set its STATUS = 2 (waiting state)

Step 3: Repeat Steps 4 and 5 until STACK is empty

Step 4: Pop the top node N. Process it and set its STATUS = 3 (processed state)

Step 5: Push on the stack all the neighbors of N that are in the ready state (whose STATUS = 1) and set their
STATUS = 2 (waiting state)

[END OF LOOP]

Step 6: EXIT
Example

S---> A--->B---->D---->E--->C--->G

Backtracking is an algorithm technique for finding all possible solutions using recursion.
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.
Advantages of DFS:
•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.
•It takes less time to reach to the goal node than BFS algorithm (if it
traverses in the right path).

Disadvantages of DFS:

•There is the possibility that many states keep re-occurring, and there is
no guarantee of finding the solution.
•DFS algorithm goes for deep down searching and sometime it may go to
the infinite loop.
Time Complexity of DFS:
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 of DFS:

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).
Completeness:

DFS search algorithm is complete within finite state space as it will

expand every node within a limited search tree.

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:

•Standard failure value: It indicates that problem does not have any
solution.
•Cutoff failure value: It defines no solution for the problem within a
given depth limit.
Example:
Advantages:
Depth-limited search is Memory efficient.

Disadvantages:
• Depth-limited search also has a disadvantage of
incompleteness.
• It may not be optimal if the problem has more than
one solution.
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:
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:
•Uniform cost search is optimal because at every state the path with the least
cost is chosen.
Disadvantages:
•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.
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]).
Completeness:
Uniform-cost search is complete, such as if there is a solution, UCS
will find it.

Optimal:
Uniform-cost search is always optimal as it only selects a path with
the lowest path cost.
5. Iterative deepening depth-first Search:
5. Iterative deepening depth-first (IDDFS) 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.
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 if the 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 the path cost is a non-decreasing
function of the depth of the node.
6. Bidirectional Search Algorithm:
6. Bidirectional Search Algorithm:

Bidirectional search is a graph search algorithm

which find smallest path form source to goal vertex.
It runs two simultaneous search –
Forward search form source/initial vertex toward
goal vertex
Backward search form goal/target vertex toward
source vertex
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:
•Bidirectional search is fast.
•Bidirectional search requires less memory
Disadvantages:
•Implementation of the bidirectional search tree
is difficult.
•In bidirectional search, one should know
the goal state in advance.
Completeness:
A Bidirectional Search is complete if we use BFS in both
searches.

Time Complexity:
The time complexity of bidirectional search using BFS is O(bd).

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

Optimal:
Bidirectional search is Optimal.
Informed Search Algorithms
Informed Search Algorithms
• The 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:
h(n) <= h*(n)

Here h(n) is the 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 into the
closed list.
• The algorithm continues unit a goal state is found.
The informed algorithms are classified into:

•Best First Search Algorithm(Greedy search)

•A* Search Algorithm

1.Best-first Search Algorithm (Greedy Search):
• The greedy best-first search algorithm always selects the path that 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.
• In the best first search algorithm, we expand the node that is closest to the
goal node, and the closest cost is estimated by heuristic function, i.e.
f(n)= h(n).
where, 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:
Step 1: Place the starting node into the OPEN list.
Step 2: If the OPEN list is empty, Stop and return failure.
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.
Step 4: Expand the node n, and generate the successors of node n.
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.
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.
Step 7: Return to Step 2.
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 Uninformed Cost Search and greedy
best-first search, by which it solves 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 results 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.

At each point in the search space, only those node is expanded which have
the lowest value of f(n), and the algorithm terminates when the goal node is
found.
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.
Example:
We will traverse the graph using the A* algorithm in this example. 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.
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)
Complete: A* algorithm is complete as long as:
• Branching factor is finite.
• Cost at every action is fixed.
Optimal: A* search algorithm is optimal if it follows below two
conditions:
• 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.
• 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.
Advantages:
•A* search algorithm is the best algorithm than other search
algorithms.
•A* search algorithm is optimal and complete.
•This algorithm can solve very complex problems.
Disadvantages:
•It does not always produce the shortest path as it mostly based on
heuristics and approximation.
•A* search algorithm has some complexity issues.
•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.
Hill Climbing Algorithm in Artificial Intelligence
Hill Climbing Algorithm in Artificial Intelligence
Hill climbing algorithm is a technique which is used for optimizing
mathematical problems.
One of the widely discussed examples of Hill climbing algorithm is in which
we need to minimize the distance traveled by the salesman.
It is also called greedy local search as it only looks to its good immediate
neighbor state and not beyond that.
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.
• A node of hill climbing algorithm has two components which
are state and value.
• Hill Climbing is mostly used when a good heuristic is available.
• 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:
• 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.
• Greedy approach:
Hill-climbing algorithm search moves in the direction which optimizes
the cost.
• 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.
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.
• 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:

• Simple hill Climbing

• Steepest-Ascent hill-climbing
• Stochastic hill Climbing
1. Simple 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.
Features of Simple Hill Climbing:
• Less time consuming
• Less optimal solution and the solution is not guaranteed
Algorithm for Simple Hill Climbing:
Step 1: Evaluate the initial state, if it is goal state then return success
and Stop.
Step 2: Loop Until a solution is found or there is no new operator left to
apply.
Step 3: Select and apply an operator to the current state.
Step 4: Check new state:
If it is goal state, then return success and quit.
Else if it is better than the current state then assign new state as a
current state.
Else if not better than the current state, then return to step2.
Step 5: Exit.
Example:
8-Puzzle problem
2. Steepest-Ascent hill climbing
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:
• Step 1: Evaluate the initial state, if it is goal state then return success
and stop, else make current state as initial state.
• Step 2: Loop until a solution is found or the current state does not
change.
• Let SUCC be a state such that any successor of the current state will be better
than it.
• For each operator that applies to the current state:
• Apply the new operator and generate a new state.
• Evaluate the new state.
• If it is goal state, then return it and quit, else compare it to the SUCC.
• If it is better than SUCC, then set new state as SUCC.
• If the SUCC is better than the current state, then set current state to SUCC.
• Step 5: Exit.
3. Stochastic hill climbing
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.
Means-Ends Analysis in Artificial Intelligence
•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.
•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).
•Means-Ends Analysis is problem-solving technique used in Artificial
intelligence for limiting search in AI programs.
•It is a mixture of Backward and forward search techniques.
•The MEA analysis process centered on the evaluation of the difference
between the current state and the 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 describing the working of the
MEA technique for solving a problem.
• First, evaluate the difference between Initial State and the
final State.
• Select the various operators which can be applied for each
difference.
• Apply the operator at each difference, reducing the difference
between the current and goal states.
Operator Subgoaling
In the MEA process, we detect the differences between the
current and goal states. 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 sub problem 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.
Step 1: Compare CURRENT to GOAL, if there are no differences between both
then return Success and Exit.
Step 2: Else, select the most significant difference and reduce it by doing the
following steps until the success or failure occurs.
Select a new operator O which is applicable for the current difference, and if there is no such
operator, then signal failure.
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.
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.

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:
•Move
•Delete
•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.