BackTracking

The simplest explanation of this technique just sunk in for me so I thought I would put it up before I completely forget it.

So, it works like this....

Think about having to go down a decision tree (a highly branched tree.

Now there are a few possible answers and they are at the leaf level.  And imagine you are starting at the root level.

So, the way you would "backtrack" is to start down a branch (branch picking to start the problem is a bit beyond me).  But you would continue down from one branch to another until you get to the leaf (most examples I saw do this recursively).  If the leaf is the solution you are done!  If not, you will back up, I think of rewinding, back to the original position and trying down another branch.   

Now obviously this is a super simple understanding of a complex technique.  Things that should be given some more thought include keeping track of position so that you do go down a failed route again and again.   

PPT of BackTracking << Helped me in getting a better idea of how this works.