What is the difference between admissible and consistent heuristics?

What is the difference between admissible and consistent heuristics?

Admissible heuristics never overestimate the cost to reach the goal, while consistent heuristics maintain this property and also ensure that the estimated cost is always less than or equal to the estimated cost from any neighboring node plus the step cost.

Can you give an example of each?

Sure! An example of an admissible heuristic is the straight-line distance to the goal in a pathfinding problem. A consistent heuristic example would be the same straight-line distance, but adjusted to ensure it satisfies the triangle inequality.

Why is it important to use these heuristics?

Using admissible and consistent heuristics helps ensure that search algorithms like A* are both optimal and efficient, leading to faster solutions.

Are there any drawbacks to using these heuristics?

Yes, while they provide optimal solutions, they can sometimes be computationally expensive to calculate, especially in complex problems.