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lambda -> discount #6

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zsunberg opened this issue Oct 2, 2023 · 3 comments
Open

lambda -> discount #6

zsunberg opened this issue Oct 2, 2023 · 3 comments

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@zsunberg
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zsunberg commented Oct 2, 2023

Isn't discount a better name for the discount argument than lambda?

@himanshugupta1009
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Well, I think the people in the community who use Hybrid A* tend to use lambda instead of discount. That's why I chose lambda as the variable name to make it easy to map/understand.

@zsunberg
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zsunberg commented Oct 3, 2023

They use lambda as a symbol for the discount factor, but do they still call it the discount factor, or do they call it something else?

Which of the following is a more direct conceptual mapping?

  • discount -> abstract idea of a discount factor
  • lambda -> a particular paper where they used the symbol lambda for the discount factor -> abstract idea of a discount factor

If I have never read a paper that uses lambda for the discount factor, I will have to go look it up. Using mathematical symbols allows for short unambiguous reference within a paper, but if you have to spell out lambda, you might as well use a more direct word.

(To be clear, this is an opinion, so you as the maintainer of this package can choose to ignore it)

@zsunberg
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zsunberg commented Oct 3, 2023

Really, all of the arguments should be named consistently.

For example,

goal, start_state, actions, dynamics, discretization, transition_cost, heuristic_cost; planning_time, discount is a self-consistent set, using English descriptive words.

G, x_0, A, f, d, g, h; T, lambda would also be a self-consistent set based on symbols used in a particular paper (I am not sure if these are the actual symbols used in any paper, it is just an example)

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