A* looks simple until you implement it. Then one question appears: Why does this algorithm find good paths without checking every possible path? The answer is its scoring structure. A* does not only ask, “How far have I moved?” It also asks, “How far do I probably still need to go?” Core Idea A* is a shortest-path search algorithm. But it is not blind search. It combines: the real cost so far the estimated cost to the goal That combination makes A* useful in pathfinding, games, maps, robotics, and graph search problems. The Key Structure A* is built around one simple score: f(n) = g(n) + h(n) Where: g(n) = actual cost from the start node to node n h(n) = estimated cost from node n to the goal f(n) = total estimated path cost So A* chooses the node with the lowest f(n). Not the closest node. Not the cheapest node so far. The node that looks best overall.…