Exploring State Spaces in AI

What is a state space?

A collection of all possible states a system can occupy

How many states are there for two light switches that are either on or off?

4

What are the states in the two light switches example?

Both off, both on, switch 1 off switch 2 on, switch 1 on switch 2 off

What does the dimension of a state space refer to?

The number of variables defining a state

What do transitions in a state space represent?

Changes via actions or events

What is the curse of dimensionality in state spaces?

State space becomes enormous as dimensions grow

How is a state often represented?

As a vector s = [x1, x2, …, xn]

What is the initial state in a state space?

The starting point

What is the goal state?

Desired final state

Exhaustive search in large state spaces is what?

Impractical