backtracking

From Glossary of Meteorology
A method of searching decision trees in stages, beginning with a depth-first search.

The search marks the last decision point and its alternatives. If one search path fails, the system backtracks to the most recent decision point, then follows an alternative branch. This permits searching as small a part of the tree as possible. Most instances of weather forecast expert systems are organized as decision trees, and use backtracking to improve their efficiency.


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