Homework 3: Searches

You will get the opportunity to code up the standard search algorithms while doing the search lab.  In this assignment, you will experiment with some of the more advanced searches, such as iterative searches, a learning-based search, and various local searches.
  1. Problem 3.11 parts a, b, and c.
  2. Suppose your implementation of Iterative Deepening takes 10 times as much space per node as your Bidirectional implementation. If b=3 at what depth (d) should you switch algorithms assuming you are motivated only by space concerns.
  3. Consider the following graph.   In the graph, o is the origin (all trials start from this state) and g is the goalLRTA* Graph (all trials end in this state).  Show what the heuristic values for each state (o,a,b,c,d,g) are after one trip (one episode) from the origin to the goal when the LRTA* algorithm is used. Initially, all heuristics are set to 0.  When there is a tie, choose the node which comes first in the alphabet.   Repeat and show what the heuristic values for each state are after a second trip (two episodes) from the origin to the goal when the LRTA* algorithm is used.
  4. Apply some of the steps for using a gradient ascent algorithm to find the maximum of a function. Consider the function f(x, y) = x3y − 2xy2 + x − 4.
    If we use gradient ascent beginning at (x0, y0) = (1,−1) and a “stepping” factor of k = 0.1,
    what values of (x, y) will be reached after one step? Recall that gradient ascent computes the
    step direction by creating the vector of partial derivatives.