Confusion about this min() operator

[Jyan]

Main Question or Discussion Point

I'm reading about planning algorithms and I'm having some difficulty understanding a bit of notation here. The pdf i'm reading is "planning.cs.uiuc.edu/ch2.pdf" [Broken] and the equation in question is on page 11. I'm not sure I understand what the min operator with all the subscripts actually means. Can anyone try to enlighten me?

Thanks,

 

[Mark44]

I'm reading about planning algorithms and I'm having some difficulty understanding a bit of notation here. The pdf i'm reading is "planning.cs.uiuc.edu/ch2.pdf" [Broken] and the equation in question is on page 11. I'm not sure I understand what the min operator with all the subscripts actually means. Can anyone try to enlighten me?

Thanks,

It means the minimum of the expression in braces, over u_k, u_k+1, ... , u_K. It might help your understanding to expand the summation that's inside the braces.

 

[Jyan]

Why are the subscripts underneath "min" necessary? I just don't understand what meaning they add over just writing "min" alone.

 

[DrGreg]

Why are the subscripts underneath "min" necessary? I just don't understand what meaning they add over just writing "min" alone.

It tells you that everything else, that isn't a subscript, should be treated as constant.