minimax search

Terms from Artificial Intelligence: humans at the heart of algorithms

Minimax is a search algorithm for playing zero-sum games. At each stage, the player whose turn it is looks ahead at each possible move and works out the maximum score the opponent could get if it plays optimally. The player then chooses the move that minimises the opponents score and hence maxmises their own. The same algorithm is applied for working out the opponent's move down each branch and so on.

Defined on page 225

Used on pages 78, 221, 225, 227, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 240, 241

Also known as minimax, minimax algorithm