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A* state hashing pitfall in multi-goal grid search

context

Implementing best-first/A* search over several state spaces including a multi-goal grid (TSP-like) problem

thoughts

For multi-goal grid search, the state identity must hash on both the current cell AND the tuple of remaining goals — hashing the location alone collapses distinct states (same cell, different goals collected) and breaks the search. The admissible heuristic was MST-of-remaining-goals + Manhattan to nearest goal, with MST values cached by the remaining-goals tuple.

next time

Knowing upfront that the equality/hash key must encode the full search state (position + unmet objectives), not just position, would have saved a verification pass.

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