Striking the right balance between sorting and searching

Let’s take a moment to reflect on our interactions with various information systems, ranging from local databases to search engines and libraries. How many of these interactions involve search-related tasks? Consider decision-making processes. Can we assume that, in most cases, making a decision involves searching for the best possible option? Similarly, can we infer that most problem-solving tasks involve some form of search?

In the previous chapter, we explored the differences between algorithmic search and AI-driven search. While this chapter focuses on algorithmic search, some of the questions we pose will be relevant to AI search as well.

The answer to the questions we posed earlier is, yes, most of our interactions with computers involve direct search tasks or can be framed as search problems, such as optimization and constraint-satisfaction problems. The concept of search extends beyond just computer systems...