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Subject: Re: Please, say in few words what can reduce the "branching factor".

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 10:19:25 09/21/99

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On September 21, 1999 at 12:02:25, Dave Gomboc wrote:

>On September 21, 1999 at 09:40:01, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>
>>First the precise formula:
>>
>>nodes=w^(floor D/2) + w^(ceil D/2)
>>
>>floor=round down, ceil=round up.  For d even, this turns into
>>
>>nodes=2 * w ^ (d/2)
>>
>>for simplicity we generally drop the 2 and just say nodes=sqrt(w^d)
>>
>>With that out of the way, that is based on perfect move ordering.  As move
>>ordering gets worse, nodes approaches w^d (pure minimax) which is why we spend
>>so much time on hash moves, killer moves, history moves, ordering the captures
>>in order of expected gain, etc.  The more accurate the move ordering, the
>>closer we get to the true alpha/beta node count.  As ordering becomes less
>>accurate, we drift toward the minimax node count.
>
>It may also be interesting to note that using completely random move ordering
>will visit w^(2d/3) nodes (IIRC!)
>
>Dave

something in that range... the reason is that for about 1/2 the total nodes,
move ordering is meaningless, because _all_ moves have to be searched at so-
called ALL nodes anyway.

I don't have the mental energy to check the 2d/3 value, although it might have
been mentioned in the Knuth/Moore paper...



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