means-end analysis

n. 1. An approach to solving a problem that examines the difference between the present state and the desired state and attempts to find a way to reduce the difference between the two, often in a step-by-step manner. Sophisticated analyses allow a step further away from the desired state if it allows greater progress on successive steps. 2. In artificial intelligence, the decomposition of problems into a series of goals and subgoals which either more closely approximate the goal or remove obstacles to closer approximation of the goal state. This is used in cases in which an exhaustive search of all possible courses of action would be too large for practical solution such as in chess playing programs.