Horizon problem

The “horizon problem”

Whenever we explore a tree to a fixed depth, we have the “horizon problem.” It may be that a really good move is invisible because it is beyond our horizon (at a greater depth than we have searched). By the same token, there may be a really good fkr our opponent just beyond the same horizon. If we don’t take such a move into consideration, we could walk into a trap.

These kinds of problems necessarily follow whenever we don’t have the entire game tree available to us for analysis and decision-making.

(more to follow)

Copyright © 2023–2026 Clayton Cafiero

No generative AI was used in producing drafts of this material. This was written the old-fashioned way. AI was used to rewrite existing pseudocode in LaTeX to produce standalone *.tex files for rendering, and for revisions toward satisfying WCAG 2.1 AA-level accessibility standards as required by UVM policy. It may also have been used to proofread selected human-written prose. Claude 2.1.150 with model Sonnet 4.6. Revisions, if any, were performed by the author. AI was not used in generating any code whatsoever. All code samples and starter code are by the author only.