3.1 Performing a State Space Search

• State space search involves finding a path from the initial state of a search problem to a goal state.

• To do this, we build a search graph, starting from the initial state (or the goal state)

• We expand a state by applying the search operators to that state, generating ALL of its successor states.

• These successors are in the next level down of the search graph

• The order in which we choose states for expansion is determined by the search strategy

• Different strategies result in (sometimes masively) different behaviour

• KEY CONCEPT: We want to find the solution while realizing in memory as few as possible of the nodes in the search space.