Discovering snake-in-the-box codes through pruning based on the exemplary solutions of an Evolutionary Algorithm

We present a method for searching for simple achordal open paths (snakes) in n-dimensional hypercube graphs (the box). Our technique first obtains exemplary snakes using an evolutionary algorithm previously responsible for defining the best-known lower bounds in n-cubes for n = 9, 10, 11, and 12. These snakes are used to define a pruning model that constrains the search space. A depth-first search search of the constrained solution space has established a new lower bound for the length of the longest snakes in the 9 and 10 dimensional hypercubes.