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International Conference on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming

CP 1995: Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming — CP '95 pp 292–309Cite as

On the forward checking algorithm

  • Constraint Satisfaction Problems 2
  • Conference paper
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 976))

Abstract

The forward checking algorithm for solving constraint satisfaction problems is a popular and successful alternative to backtracking. However, its success has largely been determined empirically, and there has been limited work towards a real understanding of why and when forward checking is the superior approach.

This paper advances our understanding by showing that forward checking is closely related to backmarking, which is a widely used improvement of ordinary backtracking. This result is somewhat surprising, because (as their names suggest) forward checking is superficially quite different from backtracking and its variants. The result may also help in predicting when forward checking will be the best method.

Finally, the paper shows how the relationship to backmarking helps in understanding a recently introduced improvement to the forward checking algorithm, known as minimal forward checking. We argue that the new algorithm is best viewed as a hybrid combination of backmarking and forward checking.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waterloo, N2L 3G1, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

    Fahiem Bacchus

  2. NEC Research Institute, 4 Independence Way, 08540, Princeton, NJ, USA

    Adam Grove

Authors
  1. Fahiem Bacchus
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  2. Adam Grove
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Editor information

Ugo Montanari Francesca Rossi

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© 1995 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Bacchus, F., Grove, A. (1995). On the forward checking algorithm. In: Montanari, U., Rossi, F. (eds) Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming — CP '95. CP 1995. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 976. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-60299-2_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-60299-2_18

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-60299-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-44788-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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