FACULTY OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATICS

DEPARTMENT OF SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

COURSE: Artificial Intelligence COURSE CODE: ARI711S

LEVEL: 7 TEST 1
DATE: 28 March 2024 DURATION: 2 HOUR 30 MINUTES
Total MARKS: 70 ASSESSORS
Mr Isaac Makosa Mr Immanuel
Kandjabanga

INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDENTS:

1. Read all the questions, passages, scenarios, etc., carefully before answering.

2. Answer all the questions.

3. Number each answer clearly and correctly.

4. ALL QUESTIONS should be answered on the provided answer sheet. Write your name, student
number, group number and mode of study on each answer sheet.

5. Write neatly and legibly.

6. Making use of any crib notes may lead to disqualification and disciplinary action.

7. Use the allocated marks as a guideline when answering questions.

8. Looking at other students’ work is strictly prohibited.

9. This paper consists of seven (5) pages including the cover page.
Section A (28 Marks)

1. Discuss the trade-offs between using a simple reflex agent and a model-based agent in an
intelligent vacuum cleaner. Consider factors like efficiency, adaptability, and robustness in
your answer. (4 marks)

2. In your own words, explain what a search problem entails. What are the key components
involved? (6 marks)

3. Considering the properties of search algorithms, which property would be most relevant to
add to the following description:

Property Description

A guarantee that the algorithm will find a solution if one exists.

A measure of how much memory the algorithm needs to run.

A measure of how long it takes the algorithm to find a solution

(typically based on the number of steps involved).

A guarantee that the algorithm will find the solution with the
lowest cost among all possible solutions.

(4 marks)

4. How does using additional knowledge make informed search algorithms more efficient than
uninformed search algorithms? (2 marks)

5. Explain the difference between planning problems and identification problems?

(6 marks)

6. Backtracking algorithms explore a search space by making choices and potentially

backtracking from them. How can filtering be used to improve the efficiency of backtracking
in general? (6 marks)

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Section B (42 Marks)

7. Graph Search

Construct the search tree for the graph above, indicating the path length to each node. The
numbers shown above are link lengths. Pay careful attention to the arrows; some are bi-
directional (shown thick) while some are unidirectional.
(8 marks)

8. Consider the tree shown below. The numbers on the arcs are the arc lengths; the numbers
near states B, C, and D are the heuristic estimates; all other states have a heuristic estimate
of 0.

Assume that the children of a node are expanded in alphabetical order when no other order
is specified by the search, and that the goal is state J. No visited or expanded lists are used.
What order would the states be expanded by each type of search. Write only the sequence
of states expanded by each search.

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 Search Type List of States

Breadth First

Depth First

Uniform Cost Search

Greedy Best-First Search

(8 marks).

9. Graph Search Problem 2

Consider the graph shown below where the numbers on the links are link costs and the
numbers next to the states are heuristic estimates. Note that the arcs are undirected. Let A
be the start state and G be the goal state.

Simulate A* search with a strict expanded list on this graph. At each step, show the path to
the state of the node that’s being expanded, the length of that path, the total estimated cost
of the path (actual + heuristic), and the current value of the expanded list (as a list of states).
You are welcome to use scratch paper or the back of the exam pages to simulate the search.
However, please transcribe (only) the information requested into the table given below.

Expanded List - is a collection of nodes in a graph that have been fully explored during the
search process.

Path to State Length of Path Total Estimated Cost Expanded List

Expanded (Closed list)

A 0 5 (A)

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 (10 marks)

10. Heuristics and A* (8 marks)

a. Is the heuristic given in Problem 2 admissible? Explain. (2 marks)
b. Is the heuristic given in Problem 2 consistent? Explain. (2 marks)
c. Did the A* algorithm with a strict expanded list find the optimal path in the previous
example? If it did find the optimal path, explain why you would expect that. If it
didn’t find the optimal path, explain why you would expect that and give a simple
(specific) change of state values of the heuristic that would be sufficient to get the
correct behaviour. (4 marks)

11. Constraint Satisfaction Problem (CPS)

Show the sequence of variable assignments during backtracking with forward checking,
assume that the variables are examined in numerical order and the values are assigned in
the order shown next to each node. Show assignments by writing the variable number and
the value, e.g. 1R.
(8 marks)

****************End of Test Best wishes and good luck! ***************