<s>
In	O
computing	O
,	O
tree	B-Application
data	I-Application
structures	I-Application
,	O
and	O
game	O
theory	O
,	O
the	O
branching	B-Data_Structure
factor	I-Data_Structure
is	O
the	O
number	O
of	O
children	B-Data_Structure
at	O
each	O
node	B-Data_Structure
,	O
the	O
outdegree	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
If	O
this	O
value	O
is	O
not	O
uniform	O
,	O
an	O
average	O
branching	B-Data_Structure
factor	I-Data_Structure
can	O
be	O
calculated	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
in	O
chess	B-Application
,	O
if	O
a	O
"	O
node	B-Data_Structure
"	O
is	O
considered	O
to	O
be	O
a	O
legal	O
position	O
,	O
the	O
average	O
branching	B-Data_Structure
factor	I-Data_Structure
has	O
been	O
said	O
to	O
be	O
about	O
35	O
,	O
and	O
a	O
statistical	O
analysis	O
of	O
over	O
2.5	O
million	O
games	O
revealed	O
an	O
average	O
of	O
31	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
comparison	O
,	O
the	O
average	O
branching	B-Data_Structure
factor	I-Data_Structure
for	O
the	O
game	O
Go	O
is	O
250	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Higher	O
branching	B-Data_Structure
factors	I-Data_Structure
make	O
algorithms	O
that	O
follow	O
every	O
branch	O
at	O
every	O
node	B-Data_Structure
,	O
such	O
as	O
exhaustive	O
brute	B-Algorithm
force	I-Algorithm
searches	I-Algorithm
,	O
computationally	O
more	O
expensive	O
due	O
to	O
the	O
exponentially	O
increasing	O
number	O
of	O
nodes	O
,	O
leading	O
to	O
combinatorial	O
explosion	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
if	O
the	O
branching	B-Data_Structure
factor	I-Data_Structure
is	O
10	O
,	O
then	O
there	O
will	O
be	O
10	O
nodes	O
one	O
level	O
down	O
from	O
the	O
current	O
position	O
,	O
102	O
(	O
or	O
100	O
)	O
nodes	O
two	O
levels	O
down	O
,	O
103	O
(	O
or	O
1,000	O
)	O
nodes	O
three	O
levels	O
down	O
,	O
and	O
so	O
on	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
higher	O
the	O
branching	B-Data_Structure
factor	I-Data_Structure
,	O
the	O
faster	O
this	O
"	O
explosion	O
"	O
occurs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
branching	B-Data_Structure
factor	I-Data_Structure
can	O
be	O
cut	O
down	O
by	O
a	O
pruning	B-Algorithm
algorithm	I-Algorithm
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
average	O
branching	B-Data_Structure
factor	I-Data_Structure
can	O
be	O
quickly	O
calculated	O
as	O
the	O
number	O
of	O
non-root	O
nodes	O
(	O
the	O
size	O
of	O
the	O
tree	O
,	O
minus	O
one	O
;	O
or	O
the	O
number	O
of	O
edges	O
)	O
divided	O
by	O
the	O
number	O
of	O
non-leaf	O
nodes	O
(	O
the	O
number	O
of	O
nodes	O
with	O
children	B-Data_Structure
)	O
.	O
</s>
