The.Algorithm.Design.Manual.Springer-Verlag.1998

Search Pruning
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Paths in
Search Pruning
Backtracking ensures correctness by enumerating all possibilities. For example, a correct algorithm to
find the optimal traveling salesman tour could enumerate all n! permutations of n vertices of the graph
and selecting the best one. For each permutation, we could check whether each of the n edges implied in
the tour really exists in the graph G, and if so, sum the weights of these edges together.
For most graphs, however, it would be pointless to construct all the permutations first and then analyze
them later. Suppose we started our search from vertex , and it happened that edge was not in G.
Enumerating all the (n-2)! permutations beginning with would be a complete waste of effort. Much
better would be to prune the search after and continue next with . By carefully restricting the
set of next elements to reflect only the moves that are legal from the current partial configuration, we
reduce the search complexity significantly.
Pruning is the technique of cutting off search the instant we have established that this partial solution
cannot be extended into the solution that we want. For example, in our traveling salesman search
program, we seek the cheapest tour that visits all vertices before returning to its starting position.
Suppose that in the course of our search we find a tour t whose cost is . As the search continues,
perhaps we will find a partial solution , where k < n and the sum of the edges on this partial tour
is . Can there be any reason to continue exploring this node any further? No, assuming all edges
have positive cost, because any tour with the prefix will have cost greater than tour t, and hence
is doomed to be non-optimal. Cutting away such failed partial tours as soon as possible can have an
enormous impact on running time.
Exploiting symmetry is a third avenue for reducing combinatorial search. It is clearly wasteful to
evaluate the same candidate solution more than once, because we will get the exact same answer each
time we consider it. Pruning away partial solutions identical to those previously considered requires
recognizing underlying symmetries in the search space. For example, consider the state of our search for
an optimal TSP tour after we have tried all partial positions beginning with . Can it pay to continue the
search with partial solutions beginning with ? No. Any tour starting and ending at can be viewed as
starting and ending at or any other vertex, for these tours are cycles. There are thus only (n-1)! distinct
tours on n vertices, not n!. By restricting the first element of the tour to always be , we save a factor of
n in time without missing any interesting solutions. Detecting such symmetries can be subtle, but once
identified they can usually be easily exploited by a search program.
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