A-Star Algorithm
Domain: Algorithms
🎯 Motivation
An improved Dijkstra that uses a heuristic to guide the search toward the goal, exploring fewer nodes. Widely used in games and GPS.
📋 Concrete Example
Dijkstra explores in all directions equally. A* adds a heuristic (like straight-line distance to goal) to prioritise nodes that seem closer to the destination.
🔗 Analogy
Dijkstra is like searching for a friend by checking every room in a building equally. A* is like checking rooms that are in the general direction your friend said they were in.