Problem Characteristics in Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence is a “way of making a computer, a computer-controlled robot, or software

think intelligently, in the similar manner the intelligent humans think”.
Since artificial intelligence (AI) is mainly related to the search process, it is important to have
some methodology to choose the best possible solution.
To choose an appropriate method for a particular problem first we need to categorize the
problem based on the following characteristics.

1. Is the problem decomposable into small sub-problems which are easy to solve?
2. Can solution steps be ignored or undone?
3. Is the universe of the problem is predictable?
4. Is a good solution to the problem is absolute or relative?
5. Is the solution to the problem a state or a path?
6. What is the role of knowledge in solving a problem using artificial intelligence?
7. Does the task of solving a problem require human interaction?

1. Is the problem decomposable into small sub-problems

which are easy to solve?

Can the problem be broken down into smaller problems to be solved

independently?
The decomposable problem can be solved easily.
Example: In this case, the problem is divided into smaller problems.
The smaller problems are solved independently. Finally, the result is
merged to get the final result.
2. Can solution steps be ignored or undone?

In the Theorem Proving problem, a lemma that has been proved can
be ignored for the next steps. in the Theorem Proving problem, a lemma
that has been proved can be ignored for the next steps.Such problems are
called Ignorable problems.

In the 8-Puzzle, Moves can be undone and backtracked. Such problems are
called Recoverable problems.
In Playing Chess, moves can be retracted.Such problems are
called Irrecoverable problems.

Ignorable problems can be solved using a simple control structure that

never backtracks.
Recoverable problems can be solved using backtracking.
Irrecoverable problems can be solved by recoverable style methods via
planning.

3. Is the universe of the problem is predictable?

In Playing Bridge, We cannot know exactly where all the cards are or what
the other players will do on their turns.

Uncertain outcome!

For certain-outcome problems, planning can be used to generate a

sequence of operators that is guaranteed to lead to a solution.
For uncertain-outcome problems, a sequence of generated operators can
only have a good probability of leading to a solution. Plan revision is made as
the plan is carried out and the necessary feedback is provided.

4. Is a good solution to the problem is absolute or relative?

The Travelling Salesman Problem, we have to try all paths to find the
shortest one.

Any path problem can be solved using heuristics that suggest good paths to
explore.

For best-path problems, a much more exhaustive search will be performed.

5. Is the solution to the problem a state or a path

The Water Jug Problem, the path that leads to the goal must be reported.
A path-solution problem can be reformulated as a state-solution problem by
describing a state as a partial path to a solution. The question is whether
that is natural or not.

6. What is the role of knowledge in solving a problem using

artificial intelligence?

Playing Chess
Consider again the problem of playing chess. Suppose you had unlimited
computing power available. How much knowledge would be required by a
perfect program? The answer to this question is very little—just the rules for
determining legal moves and some simple control mechanism that
implements an appropriate search procedure.
Additional knowledge about such things as good strategy and tactics could of
course help considerably to constrain the search and speed up the execution
of the program. Knowledge is important only to constrain the search for a
solution.

7. Does the task of solving a problem require human

interaction?

Sometimes it is useful to program computers to solve problems in ways that

the majority of people would not be able to understand.

This is fine if the level of the interaction between the computer and its
human users is problem-in solution-out.

But increasingly we are building programs that require intermediate

interaction with people, both to provide additional input to the program and
to provide additional reassurance to the user.

The solitary problem, in which there is no intermediate communication and

no demand for an explanation of the reasoning process.
The conversational problem, in which intermediate communication is to
provide either additional assistance to the computer or additional
information to the user.
Water Jug Problem in Artificial Intelligence – State
Space Search
Water Jug Problem Definition,

“You are given two jugs, a 4-liter one and a 3-liter one. Neither have any
measuring markers on it. There is a pump that can be used to fill the jugs
with water. How can you get exactly 2 liters of water into a 4-liter jug.”

Representation of water Jug Problem in terms of state-space search,

State: (x, y)

where x represents the quantity of water in a 4-liter jug and y represents the
quantity of water in a 3-liter jug.

That is, x = 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 y = 0, 1, 2, 3

Start state: (0, 0).

Goal state: (2, n) for any n.

Here need to start from the current state and end up in a goal state.

Production Rules for Water Jug Problem in Artificial Intelligence

The solution to Water Jug Problem in Artificial Intelligence

8 Puzzle Problem

The 8 puzzle consists of eight numbered, movable tiles set in a 3x3 frame. One cell
of the frame is always empty thus making it possible to move an adjacent
numbered tile into the empty cell. Such a puzzle is illustrated in following diagram.

The program is to change the initial configuration into the goal configuration. A solution to the
problem is an appropriate sequence of moves, such as “move tiles 5 to the right, move tile 7 to
the left ,move tile 6 to the down, etc”.
To solve a problem using a production system, we must specify the global database the rules, and
the control strategy.

For the 8 puzzle problem that correspond to these three components.

These elements are the problem states, moves and goal.

In this problem each tile configuration is a state. The set of all configuration in the space of
problem states or the problem space, there are only 3,62,880 different configurations o the 8 tiles
and blank space. Once the problem states have been conceptually identified, we must construct a
computer representation, or description of them . this description is then used as the database of a
production system. For the 8-puzzle, a straight forward description is a 3X3 array of matrix of
numbers. The initial global database is this description of the initial problem state. Virtually any
kind of data structure can be used to describe states.

A move transforms one problem state into another state. The 8-puzzle is convenjently interpreted
as having the following for moves. Move empty space (blank) to the left, move blank up, move
blank to the right and move blank down,. These moves are modeled by production rules that
operate on the state descriptions in the appropriate manner.

The rules each have preconditions that must be satisfied by a state description in order for them
to be applicable to that state description. Thus the precondition for the rule associated with
“move blank up” is derived from the requirement that the blank space must not already be in the
top row.

The problem goal condition forms the basis for the termination condition of the production
system. The control strategy repeatedly applies rules to state descriptions until a description of a
goal state is produced. It also keep track of rules that have been applied so that it can compose
them into sequence representing the problem solution. A solution to the 8-puzzle problem is
given in the following figure.
Missionaries and Cannibals problem
In the missionaries and cannibals problem, three missionaries and three cannibals
must cross a river using a boat which can carry at most two people, under the
constraint that, for both banks, if there are missionaries present on the bank, they
cannot be outnumbered by cannibals (if they were, the cannibals would eat ...