Whatisageneticalgorithm
MethodsofrepresentationMethodsofselectionMethodsofchangeOtherproblem-solvingtechniquesConciselystated,ageneticalgorithm(orGAforshort)isaprogrammingtechniquethatmimicsbiologicalevolutionasaproblem-solvingstrategy
Givenaspecificproblemtosolve,theinputtotheGAisasetofpotentialsolutionstothatproblem,encodedinsomefashion,andametriccalledafitnessfunctionthatallowseachcandidatetobequantitativelyevaluated
Thesecandidatesmaybesolutionsalreadyknowntowork,withtheaimoftheGAbeingtoimprovethem,butmoreoftentheyaregeneratedatrandom
TheGAthenevaluateseachcandidateaccordingtothefitnessfunction
Inapoolofrandomlygeneratedcandidates,ofcourse,mostwillnotworkatall,andthesewillbedeleted
However,purelybychance,afewmayholdpromise-theymayshowactivity,evenifonlyweakandimperfectactivity,towardso