1.1 Basic Notion of State Space Search

• Search is an important approach to general-purpose problem-solving.

• Search techniques are the most important and pervasive general AI programming technique.

• The basic idea: before actually doing something in order to solve some problem/puzzle, an intelligent agent will explore possibilities "in its head".

• Search = "(mental) exploration of possibilities"

• When we make a decision we can't be sure that we've made the best one unless we explore various possibilities (to at least some degree).