4 Informed search algorithms
This chapter covers
- Defining informed search
- Learning how to solve the minimum spanning tree problem
- Learning how to find the shortest path using informed search algorithms
- Solving a real-world routing problem using these algorithms
In the previous chapter, we covered blind search algorithms, which are algorithms in which no information about the search space is needed. In this chapter, we’ll look at how search can be further optimized if we utilize some information about the search space during the search.
As problems and search spaces become larger and more complex, the complexity of the algorithms themselves increases. I’ll start by introducing informed search algorithms, and then we’ll discuss minimum spanning tree algorithms and shortest path search algorithms. A routing problem will be presented as a real-life application to show how you can use these algorithms.