State Space

• A standard technique for AI developers is to break a problem down into a state space.
• You describe all the possible states of the system.
• You then describe how you move from one state to another.
• Problem solving can then be moving from the start state (or current state) to the goal state.
• Another mechanism is to evaluate the states and find the best (or good enough) state.
• Buckland uses the Tower of Hanoi problem.
• I think Missionaries and Cannibals does well. You have 3 missionaries, 3 cannibals and a boat on the edge of a river. The boat only holds two people. If the cannibals ever outnumber the missionaries on either side of the river, they eat them. How can you get everyone across the river?
• What are the possible states?
• How do you change from one state to another?
• Do a search.