Discuss the possible advantages of the following state-space search strategy: obtain by some method a path to a goal node and its associated cost f(Goal)=C. This cost is not necessarily minimal but it gives an upper bound on the minimal cost. Now use A* with an admissible $h$ function and discard immediately any OPEN nodes reached whose f values are greater than C.

1. Explain if the modified A* algorithm with this strategy is guaranteed to find an optimal solution if one exists or not. Be short but precise.

2. Explain if the fact that the algorithm discards some of the OPEN nodes (i.e. nodes in the frontier) means that fewer nodes are expanded. Be short but precise.

3. Does this strategy reduce the total storage requirements? Explain your reasoning.