Combinatorial Explosion of Search
When the number of paths in a search space grows exponentially, a combinatorial explosion results: the search becomes too long to be carried out, given time and money constraints—even though search heuristics can improve efficiency.
![](Handler.ashx?path=ROOT/u23/3combinator.gif)
Note: Combinatorial explosion also affects the problem of representing commonsense knowledge.
See "Combinatorial Explosion of the Knowledge", Box 92.