Monday, September 18, 2006

Manhattan distance heuristic

When computing the manhattan distance heuristic for the 8-puzzle, the book doesn't include the empty tile's distance when summing up the distances. Is this to ensure that the heuristic will not overestimate? Wouldn't it be more accurate to include the empty tile?

1 comment:

Lei Tang said...

Empty tile should not be counted. Otherwise, it is overestimated. As if all your tiles move to the goal position, the empty tile should be automatically satisfied.