# Toy problem

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Simplified example problem used for research or exposition

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Vacuum World, a [shortest path problem](/source/Shortest_path_problem) in which the goal is to vacuum up all the pieces of dirt

In scientific disciplines, a **toy problem**[1][2] or a **puzzlelike problem**[3] is a problem that is not of immediate scientific interest, yet is used as an expository device to illustrate a trait that may be shared by other, more complicated, instances of the problem, or as a way to explain a particular, more general, problem solving technique. A toy problem is useful to test and demonstrate methodologies. Researchers can use toy problems to compare the performance of different [algorithms](/source/Algorithm). They are also good for [game designing](/source/Game_design).

For instance, while engineering a large system, the large problem is often broken down into many smaller toy problems which have been well understood in detail. Often these problems distill a few important aspects of complicated problems so that they can be studied in isolation. Toy problems are thus often very useful in providing intuition about specific phenomena in more complicated problems.

As an example, in the field of [artificial intelligence](/source/Artificial_intelligence), classical puzzles, games and problems are often used as toy problems. These include [sliding-block puzzles](/source/Sliding-block_puzzle), [N-Queens problem](/source/N-Queens_problem), [missionaries and cannibals problem](/source/Missionaries_and_cannibals_problem), [tic-tac-toe](/source/Tic-tac-toe), [chess](/source/Chess),[1] [Tower of Hanoi](/source/Tower_of_Hanoi) and others.[2][3]

## See also

- [Blocks world](/source/Blocks_world)

- [Firing squad synchronization problem](/source/Firing_squad_synchronization_problem)

- [Monkey and banana problem](/source/Monkey_and_banana_problem)

- [Secretary problem](/source/Secretary_problem)

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-aima2010_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-aima2010_1-1) Stuart J. Russell, Peter Norvig (2010). [*Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach*](https://books.google.com/books?id=8jZBksh-bUMC&q=toy) (3 ed.). Prentice Hall. pp. 70–73, 102–107, 109–110, 115, 162. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-13-604259-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-13-604259-4).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-korf2012_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-korf2012_2-1) [Korf, Richard E.](/source/Richard_E._Korf) (2012). "Research Challenges in Combinatorial Search". In Hoffmann, Jörg; Selman, Bart (eds.). *Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, July 22–26, 2012, Toronto, Ontario, Canada*. Vol. 26. AAAI Press. pp. 2129–2133. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1609/AAAI.V26I1.8444](https://doi.org/10.1609%2FAAAI.V26I1.8444).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-pearl1984_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-pearl1984_3-1) Pearl, Judea (1984). [*Heuristics: intelligent search strategies for computer problem solving*](https://books.google.com/books?id=1HpQAAAAMAAJ&q=puzzlelike). Addison-Wesley Publishing Company. p. 4. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-201-05594-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-201-05594-5).

## External links

- ["toy problem"](http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/T/toy-problem.html). *The Jargon Lexicon*.

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