We continue choosing, testing, and expanding until a solution is found or until there are no more states that can be expanded. The choice of which state to expand first is determined by the search strategy. Search Methods . An overview by Patrick Doyle. Very informative, though there are some spots that are quite technical.
Exhaustive search is truly a creation of the computer era.
Virtually every problem can be solved using a search algorithm, although searching can be relatively inefficient for tasks such as arithmetic. Search methods can be divided into systematic and nonsystematic algorithms. Be sure to follow the links to Subareas at the bottom of their pages for more specific information.