From the course: AI Algorithms for Gaming

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Alpha-beta pruning

Alpha-beta pruning - Python Tutorial

From the course: AI Algorithms for Gaming

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Alpha-beta pruning

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- [Instructor] We still have that billions of years problem. So a first attempt to solve it is called alpha-beta pruning. It's based on the observation that when analyzing a min node or max node, some options can't possibly be the min or max value we are looking for. So these options can be safely left unchecked. Now, remember that an option in the minimax tree is a sub-tree that can be pruned off. So our hope with this pruning is to get rid of a lot of unnecessary work. However, the task still seems uphill. Do you think we'll be able to shrink 300 times 10 to the 15 years down to something reasonable like 10 years? We'll see how well alpha-beta pruning actually does a little later. For now, let me show you how it works. Consider the same example we used for minimax. I will guide you through the whole process again, but this time we'll follow the alpha-beta search algorithm. Now, for the left sub-tree action a, we'll…

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