A* is a computer algorithm that is extensively used for the purpose of finding the path or traversing a graph in order to find the most optimal route between various points called the nodes.
The A* algorithm is a widely used search algorithm in artificial intelligence and computer science, particularly in pathfinding and graph traversal problems. It is an informed search algorithm, meaning it uses additional knowledge about the problem domain to guide its search towards the goal. A* combines the advantages of both uniform cost search and greedy best-first search by using a heuristic function to estimate the cost of reaching the goal from any given node.
Here’s a concise explanation suitable for an interview:
“A* algorithm is a search method commonly used in artificial intelligence for finding the shortest path from a start node to a goal node in a graph. It evaluates nodes by combining the cost to reach the node from the start and the estimated cost to reach the goal from that node, using a heuristic function. This heuristic helps prioritize nodes that are likely to lead to the goal, making A* efficient and effective for pathfinding tasks.”