hill climbing

algorithm A graph search algorithm where the current

path is extended with a successor node which is closer to the

solution than the end of the current path.

In simple hill climbing, the first closer node is chosen

whereas in steepest ascent hill climbing all successors are

compared and the closest to the solution is chosen. Both

forms fail if there is no closer node. This may happen if

there are local maxima in the search space which are not

solutions. Steepest ascent hill climbing is similar to bestfirst search but the latter tries all possible extensions of

the current path in order whereas steepest ascent only tries

one.

(1995-12-09)