Department of Computer Science & Engineering (AI)

Mr. Satyam Kumar Sainy

Assistant Professor
Computer Science & Engineering- A I
Search Algorithms in Artificial
Intelligence
Problem-solving agents:
 In Artificial Intelligence, Search techniques are universal problem-solving
methods. Rational agents or Problem-solving agents in AI mostly use
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. In this topic, we will learn various problem-solving search
algorithms.
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 the agent begins the
search.
 Goal test: It is a function that observes the current state and
returns whether the goal state is achieved or not.
 Search tree: A tree representation of a search problem is
called a Search tree. The root of the search tree is the root
node which corresponds to the initial state.
Search Algorithm Terminologies
 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.
Application of Search Algorithms
 Pathfinding: Pathfinding problems involve finding the shortest path
between two points in a given graph or network. BFS or A* search
can be used to explore a graph and find the optimal path.
 Optimization: In optimization problems, the goal is to find the
minimum or maximum value of a function, subject to some
constraints. Search algorithms such as hill climbing or simulated
annealing are often used in optimization cases.
 Game Playing: In game playing, search algorithms are used to
evaluate all possible moves and choose the one that is most likely to
lead to a win, or the best possible outcome. This is done by
constructing a search tree where each node represents a game state
and the edges represent the moves that can be taken to reach the
associated new game state
Types of search algorithms
Uninformed Search Algorithms
Types of search algorithms
3. AO* algorithm: Best-first search is what the AO*
algorithm does. The AO* method divides any given
difficult problem into a smaller group of problems
that are then resolved using the AND-OR graph
concept.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN UNINFORMED & INFORMED
SEARCH STRATEGIES
Uninformed Search Informed Search

It is a search strategy with no additional It is a search strategy which carries some

information. It only contains the current additional information with the current state
state information. information.

It is less efficient to use uninformed search

It is more efficient search technique.
technique.

It may take more time to reach the goal It mostly reaches the goal state in limited
node. time.

May or may not give an optimal solution. Mostly provides an optimal solution.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN UNINFORMED & INFORMED
SEARCH STRATEGIES

Uninformed Search Informed Search

It is also known as Blind Search because It is also known as Heuristic Search as it

it searches the goal blindly without searches the goal with the help of some
having the prior knowledge. prior knowledge.

An uninformed search requires more An informed search require less

computation. computation.

BFS, DFS, Uniform cost search are types Best first search, A* search are types of
of uninformed search. informed search.
Breadth-first Search(BFS)
Breadth-first search is the most common search strategy
for traversing a tree or graph. This algorithm searches
breadth wise 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.
Advantages of BFS
• 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 of BFS
• It requires lots of memory since each level of
the tree must be saved into memory to expand
the next lev el.
• BFS needs lots of time if the solution is far
away from the root node.
Example
In the below 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
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.
Advantage 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).
Disadvantage 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.
Example
• In the below search tree, we have shown the flow of depth-first
search, and it will follow the order as:
• Root node--->Left node ----> right node.
• 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.
 Difference between BFS and DFS
BFS DFS

It extends for Breadth-first search. It extends for Depth-first search.

It searches a node breadthwise, i.e., It searches a node depthwise, i.e., covering

covering each level one by one. one path deeply.

It uses the queue to store data in the It uses the stack to store data in the
memory. memory.

BFS is a vertex-based algorithm. DFS is an edge-based algorithm.

The structure of a BFS tree is wide and The structure of a DFS tree is narrow and
short. long.
BFS DFS

The oldest unexpanded node is its first

The nodes along the edge are explored first.
priority to explore it.

BFS is used to examine bipartite graph, DFS is used to examine a two-edge

connected path as well as shortest path connected graph, acyclic graph, and also the
present in the graph. topological order.
Depth-Limited Search Algorithm(DLS)
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.
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.
Example
Iterative deepening depth-first 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 depth 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.
Advantages:
It combines the benefits of BFS and DFS search
algorithm in terms of fast search and memory
efficiency.
Disadvantages:
The main drawback of IDDFS is that it repeats all
the work of the previous phase.
Example
 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.
 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.
Bidirectional Search Algorithm
 Bidirectional search algorithm runs two simultaneous searches, one
form initial state called as forward-search and other from goal node
called as backward-search, to find the goal node.
 Bidirectional search replaces one single search graph with two
small sub graphs 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.
When to use bidirectional approach?

 Both initial and goal states are unique and completely

defined.
 The branching factor is exactly the same in both
directions.
Example
• In the below search tree, bidirectional search
algorithm is applied. This algorithm divides one
graph/tree into two sub-graphs.
• It starts traversing from node 1 in the forward
direction and starts from goal node 16 in the
backward direction.
• The algorithm terminates at node 9 where two
searches meet.
Informed Search Strategies
 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 Search
 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.
The heuristic function is given as:
h(n) <= h*(n)
Here h(n) is heuristic cost, and h*(n) is the
estimated cost. Hence heuristic cost should be less than
or equal to the estimated cost.
In the informed search we will discuss three
Main algorithms which are given below:
Greedy Best First Search
A* Search Algorithm
AO* Search Algorithm
Best First Search
 Best-first search algorithm always selects the path which
appears best at that moment.
 It is the combination of depth-first search and breadth-first
search algorithms.
 It uses the evaluation function and search.
 In the best first search algorithm, we expand the node
which is closest to the goal node and the closest cost is
estimated by evaluation function-
f(n)= g(n)
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 g(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.
Advantages of BFS:
• It is more efficient than that of BFS and DFS.
• Time complexity of Best first search is much less than
Breadth first search.

Disadvantages of BFS:
• It can behave as an unguided depth-first search in the
worst case scenario.
• It can get stuck in a loop as DFS.
Example
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
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 UCS and greedy best-first search,
by which it solve 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 result 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.
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.
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.
Example
 We will traverse the given graph using the A* algorithm. 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.
Local Search Algorithms
A local search algorithm completes its task by traversing on a single current
node rather than multiple paths and following the neighbors of that node
generally.
Although local search algorithms are not systematic, still they have the
following two advantages:
 Local search algorithms use a very little or constant amount of memory as they
operate only on a single path.
 Most often, they find a reasonable solution in large or infinite state spaces where
the classical or systematic algorithms do not work.
 Local search algorithm works for pure optimized problems. A pure optimization
problem is one where all the nodes can give a solution. But the target is to find
the best state out of all according to the objective function. Unfortunately, the
pure optimization problem fails to find high-quality solutions to reach the goal
state from the current state.
Types of local searches
 Hill-climbing Search
 Simulated Annealing
 Local Beam Search
Hill-climbing Search
 The topographical regions shown in the figure can be defined as:
 Global Maximum: It is the highest point on the hill, which is the goal state.
 Local Maximum: It is the peak higher than all other peaks but lower than
the global maximum.
 Flat local maximum: It is the flat area over the hill where it has no uphill
or downhill. It is a saturated point of the hill.
 Shoulder: It is also a flat area where the summit is possible.
 Current state: It is the current position of the person.
Types of Hill climbing search algorithm
There are following types of hill-climbing search:
 Simple hill climbing
 Steepest-ascent hill climbing
 Stochastic hill climbing
Simple hill climbing search
Simple hill climbing is the simplest technique to climb
a hill. The task is to reach the highest peak of the
mountain. Here, the movement of the climber depends
on his move/steps. If he finds his next step better than
the previous one, he continues to move else remain in
the same state. This search focus only on his previous
and next step.
Simple hill climbing Algorithm
 Create a CURRENT node, NEIGHBOUR node, and
a GOAL node.
 If the CURRENT node=GOAL node,
return GOAL and terminate the search.
 Else CURRENT node<= NEIGHBOUR
node, move ahead.
 Loop until the goal is not reached or a point is not
found.
Steepest-ascent hill climbing
Steepest-ascent hill climbing is different from simple
hill climbing search. Unlike simple hill climbing
search, It considers all the successive nodes, compares
them, and choose the node which is closest to the
solution. Steepest hill climbing search is similar
to best-first search because it focuses on each node
instead of one.
Steepest-ascent hill climbing algorithm
 Create a CURRENT node and a GOAL node.
 If the CURRENT node=GOAL node, return GOAL and
terminate the search.
 Loop until a better node is not found to reach the solution.
 If there is any better successor node present, expand it.
 When the GOAL is attained, return GOAL and terminate.
Stochastic hill climbing
Stochastic hill climbing does not focus on all the
nodes. It selects one node at random and decides
whether it should be expanded or search for a
better one.
Limitations of Hill climbing algorithm

Hill climbing algorithm is a fast and furious approach.

It finds the solution state rapidly because it is quite
easy to improve a bad state. But, there are following
limitations of this search:
 Local Maxima: It is that peak of the mountain which
is highest than all its neighboring states but lower than
the global maxima. It is not the goal peak because
there is another peak higher than it.
 Plateau: It is a flat surface area where no uphill exists. It becomes difficult for the
climber to decide that in which direction he should move to reach the goal point.
Sometimes, the person gets lost in the flat area.

 Ridges: It is a challenging problem where the person finds two or more local
maxima of the same height commonly. It becomes difficult for the person to
navigate the right point and stuck to that point itself.
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.
Local Beam Search
Local beam search is quite different from random-restart
search. It keeps track of k states instead of just one. It
selects k randomly generated states, and expand them at each
step. If any state is a goal state, the search stops with success.
Else it selects the best k successors from the complete list and
repeats the same process. In random-restart search where each
search process runs independently, but in local beam search,
the necessary information is shared between the parallel search
processes.
Adversarial Search
 Adversarial search is a game-playing technique where the agents are
surrounded by a competitive environment.
 A conflicting goal is given to the agents (multiagent).
 These agents compete with one another and try to defeat one another in
order to win the game.
 Such conflicting goals give rise to the adversarial search. Here, game-
playing means discussing those games where human intelligence and logic
factor is used, excluding other factors such as luck factor. Tic-tac-toe,
chess, checkers, etc., are such type of games where no luck factor works,
only mind works.
Techniques required to get the best
optimal solution
 Pruning: A technique which allows ignoring the unwanted
portions of a search tree which make no difference in its final
result.
 Heuristic Evaluation Function: It allows to approximate the
cost value at each level of the search tree, before reaching the
goal node.
Elements of Game Playing search
 S0: It is the initial state from where a game begins.
 PLAYER (s): It defines which player is having the current turn
to make a move in the state.
 ACTIONS (a): It defines the set of legal moves to be used in a
state.
 RESULT (s, a): It is a transition model which defines the
result of a move.
TERMINAL-TEST (p): It defines that the game has ended and
returns true.
UTILITY (s,p): It defines the final value with which the game has
ended. This function is also known as Objective function or Payoff
function. The price which the winner will get i.e.
(-1): If the PLAYER loses.
(+1): If the PLAYER wins.
(0): If there is a draw between the PLAYERS.
Types of algorithms in Adversarial search

An adversarial search, the result depends on the players

which will decide the result of the game.
 Minimax Algorithm
 Alpha-beta Pruning.
Minimax
Minimax is a decision-making strategy under game
theory, which is used to minimize the losing chances in a
game and to maximize the winning chances. This strategy
is also known as ‘Minmax,’ ’MM,’ or ‘Saddle point’.
MINIMAX Algorithm
MINIMAX algorithm is a backtracking algorithm where it
backtracks to pick the best move out of several choices. MINIMAX
strategy follows the DFS (Depth-first search) concept. Here, we
have two players MIN and MAX, and the game is played
alternatively between them, i.e., when MAX made a move, then the
next turn is of MIN. It means the move made by MAX is fixed and,
he cannot change it. The same concept is followed in DFS strategy,
i.e., we follow the same path and cannot change in the middle. That’s
why in MINIMAX algorithm, instead of BFS, we follow DFS.
• Keep on generating the game tree/ search tree till a
limit d.
• Compute the move using a heuristic function.
• Propagate the values from the leaf node till the current
position following the minimax strategy.
• Make the best move from the choices.
Limitation of the minimax Algorithm
 The main drawback of the minimax algorithm is that
it gets really slow for complex games such as Chess,
go, etc.
 This type of games has a huge branching factor, and
the player has lots of choices to decide.
 This limitation of the minimax algorithm can be
improved from alpha-beta pruning which we have
discussed in the next topic.
Example
 Step-1: In the first step, the algorithm generates the
entire game-tree and apply the utility function to get
the utility values for the terminal states. In the below
tree diagram, let's take A is the initial state of the tree.
Suppose maximizer takes first turn which has worst-
case initial value =- infinity, and minimizer will take
next turn which has worst-case initial value =
+infinity.
Step 2: Now, first we find the utilities value for the Maximizer, its initial value is -∞, so we
will compare each value in terminal state with initial value of Maximizer and determines the
higher nodes values. It will find the maximum among the all.
For node D max(-1,- -∞) => max(-1,4)= 4
For Node E max(2, -∞) => max(2, 6)= 6
For Node F max(-3, -∞) => max(-3,-5) = -3
For node G max(0, -∞) = max(0, 7) = 7
Step 3: In the next step, it's a turn for minimizer, so it will compare all nodes value with
+∞, and will find the 3rd layer node values.
For node B= min(4,6) = 4
For node C= min (-3, 7) = -3
Step 4: Now it's a turn for Maximizer, and it will again choose the maximum of all
nodes value and find the maximum value for the root node. In this game tree, there are
only 4 layers, hence we reach immediately to the root node, but in real games, there will
be more than 4 layers.
For node A max(4, -3)= 4
Alpha-Beta Pruning

 Alpha-beta pruning is a modified version of the minimax algorithm. It is

an optimization technique for the minimax algorithm.
 As we have seen in the minimax search algorithm that the number of
game states it has to examine are exponential in depth of the tree. Since
we cannot eliminate the exponent, but we can cut it to half. Hence there
is a technique by which without checking each node of the game tree we
can compute the correct minimax decision, and this technique is
called pruning. This involves two threshold parameter Alpha and beta
for future expansion, so it is called alpha-beta pruning. It is also called
as Alpha-Beta Algorithm.
 Alpha-beta pruning can be applied at any depth of a tree, and sometimes
it not only prune the tree leaves but also entire sub-tree.
The two-parameter can be defined as:
Alpha: The best (highest-value) choice we have found so far at
any point along the path of Maximizer. The initial value of alpha
is -∞.
Beta: The best (lowest-value) choice we have found so far at any
point along the path of Minimizer. The initial value of beta is +∞.
The Alpha-beta pruning to a standard minimax algorithm returns the
same move as the standard algorithm does, but it removes all the
nodes which are not really affecting the final decision but making
algorithm slow. Hence by pruning these nodes, it makes the algorithm
fast.
Condition for Alpha-beta pruning

 The main condition which required for alpha-beta pruning is:

α>=β
 The Max player will only update the value of alpha.
 The Min player will only update the value of beta.
 While backtracking the tree, the node values will be passed to
upper nodes instead of values of alpha and beta.
 We will only pass the alpha, beta values to the child nodes.
Pseudo-code for Alpha-beta Pruning

function minimax(node, depth, alpha, beta, maximizing Player) is

if depth ==0 or node is a terminal node then
return static evaluation of node

if Maximizing Player then // for Maximizer Player

max Eva= -infinity
for each child of node do
eva= minimax(child, depth-1, alpha, beta, False)
max Eva= max (max Eva, eva)
alpha= max(alpha, max Eva)
if beta<=alpha
 break
return maxEva
else // for Minimizer player
minEva= +infinity
for each child of node do
eva= minimax(child, depth-1, alpha, beta, true)
minEva= min(minEva, eva)
beta= min(beta, eva)
if beta<=alpha
break
return minEva
Working of Alpha-Beta Pruning

Let's take an example of two-player search tree to

understand the working of Alpha-beta pruning:
 Step 1: At the first step the, Max player will start first
move from node A where α= -∞ and β= +∞, these value of
alpha and beta passed down to node B where again α= -∞
and β= +∞, and Node B passes the same value to its child
D.
Step 2: At Node D, the value of α will be calculated as its
turn for Max. The value of α is compared with firstly 2 and
then 3, and the max (2, 3) = 3 will be the value of α at
node D and node value will also 3.
Step 3: Now algorithm backtrack to node B, where the
value of β will change as this is a turn of Min, Now β= +∞,
will compare with the available subsequent nodes value,
i.e. min (∞, 3) = 3, hence at node B now α= -∞, and β= 3.
In the next step, algorithm traverse the next successor of Node B
which is node E, and the values of α= -∞, and β= 3 will also be
passed.
Step 4: At node E, Max will take its turn, and the value of alpha
will change. The current value of alpha will be compared with 5, so
max (-∞, 5) = 5, hence at node E α= 5 and β= 3, where α>=β, so
the right successor of E will be pruned, and algorithm will not
traverse it, and the value at node E will be 5.
Step 5: At next step, algorithm again backtrack the tree, from node
B to node A. At node A, the value of alpha will be changed the
maximum available value is 3 as max (-∞, 3)= 3, and β= +∞, these
two values now passes to right successor of A which is Node C.
At node C, α=3 and β= +∞, and the same values will be passed on
to node F.
Step 6: At node F, again the value of α will be compared with left
child which is 0, and max(3,0)= 3, and then compared with right
child which is 1, and max(3,1)= 3 still α remains 3, but the node
value of F will become 1.
Step 7: Node F returns the node value 1 to node C, at C
α= 3 and β= +∞, here the value of beta will be changed,
it will compare with 1 so min (∞, 1) = 1. Now at C, α=3
and β= 1, and again it satisfies the condition α>=β, so
the next child of C which is G will be pruned, and the
algorithm will not compute the entire sub-tree G.
Step 8: C now returns the value of 1 to A here the best value for
A is max (3, 1) = 3. Following is the final game tree which is the
showing the nodes which are computed and nodes which has
never computed. Hence the optimal value for the maximizer is 3
for this example.
Move Ordering in Alpha-Beta pruning

The effectiveness of alpha-beta pruning is highly dependent on

the order in which each node is examined. Move order is an
important aspect of alpha-beta pruning. It can be of two types:
 Worst ordering: In some cases, alpha-beta pruning algorithm
does not prune any of the leaves of the tree, and works exactly
as minimax algorithm. In this case, it also consumes more time
because of alpha-beta factors, such a move of pruning is called
worst ordering. In this case, the best move occurs on the right
side of the tree. The time complexity for such an order is
O(bm).
Ideal ordering: The ideal ordering for alpha-beta pruning occurs
when lots of pruning happens in the tree, and best moves occur at the
left side of the tree. We apply DFS hence it first search left of the
tree and go deep twice as minimax algorithm in the same amount of
time. Complexity in ideal ordering is O(bm/2).
Example