Search algorithm: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 07:33, 6 July 2004

Revision as of 07:38, 6 July 2004

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[[ja:検索]]

In [[computer science]], a '''search algorithm''', broadly speaking, is an [[algorithm]] that takes a problem as [[input]] and returns a solution to the problem. Most of the algorithms studied by computer scientists that solve problems are kinds of search algorithms. The set of all possible solutions to a problem is called the [[search space]]. [[Brute-force search]] or "naive"/uninformed search algorithms use the simplest, most intuitive method of searching through the search space, whereas informed search algorithms that use [[heuristics]] to apply knowledge about the structure of the search space to try to reduce the amount of time spent searching.

== Uninformed Search ==

An uninformed search algorithm is one that does not take into account the specific nature of the problem. As such, they can be implemented in general, and then the same [[implementation]] can be used in a wide range of problems thanks to [[Abstraction (computer science)|abstraction]]. The drawback is that most [[search spacesspace]]s are extremely large, and an uninformed search (especially of a tree) will only take a reasonable amount of time for small examples. As such, to speed up the process, sometimes only an informed search will do.

=== List Search ===