Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised May 28, 2026

Beam stack search

Beam stack search is a search algorithm that combines chronological backtracking with beam search and is similar to depth-first beam search. Both search algorithms are anytime algorithms that find good but likely sub-optimal solutions quickly, like beam search, then backtrack and continue to find improved solutions until convergence to an optimal solution.

Last revised
May 28, 2026
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≈ 1 min
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Beam stack search1 is a search algorithm that combines chronological backtracking (that is, depth-first search) with beam search and is similar to depth-first beam search.2 Both search algorithms are anytime algorithms that find good but likely sub-optimal solutions quickly, like beam search, then backtrack and continue to find improved solutions until convergence to an optimal solution.

Implementation

Beam stack search uses the beam stack as a data structure to integrate chronological backtracking with beam search and can be combined with the divide and conquer algorithm technique, resulting in divide-and-conquer beam-stack search.

Alternatives

Beam search using limited discrepancy backtracking2 (BULB) is a search algorithm that combines limited discrepancy search with beam search and thus performs non-chronological backtracking, which often outperforms the chronological backtracking done by beam stack search and depth-first beam search.

References

References

  1. Zhou, Rong; Hansen, Eric A. (2005). "Beam-Stack Search: Integrating Backtracking with Beam Search" (PDF). CiteSeerx10.1.1.71.4147.
  2. Furcy, David. Koenig, Sven. "Limited Discrepancy Beam Search". 2005. "Archived copy" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-12-22.