The Avoidance of (Relative) Catastrophe, Heuristic Competence, Genuine Dynamic Weighting and Computational Issues in Heuristic Problem Solving

To so lve d i f f i c u l t problems h e u r i s t i c a l l y , requ i res d e t a i l e d a t t e n t i o n t o computat iona l e f f i c i e n c y . Th is paper descr ibes how a heuri s t i c problem s o l v i n g system, HPA, at tempts to f i n d a near op t ima l s o l u t i o n to the t r a v e l i n g salesman problem. A c r i t i c a l innovat i o n over prev ious search a lgo r i thms is an e x p l i c i t dynamic w e i g h t i n g o f the h e u r i s t i c i n f o r m a t i o n . The h e u r i s t i c i n f o rma t i on i s weighted i n v e r s e l y p r o p o r t i o n a l t o i t s depth i n the search t r e e i n consequence i t p ro duces a narrower depth f i r s t search than t r a d i t i o n a l w e i g h t i n g s . At the same t i m e , dynamic we igh t i ng r e t a i n s the ca tas t rophe p ro t e c t i o n of o r d i n a r y branch and bound a l g o r i thms.