Genetic Algorithms:

A Tutorial
“Genetic Algorithms are
good at taking large,
potentially huge search
spaces and navigating
them, looking for optimal
combinations of things,
solutions you might not
otherwise find in a
lifetime.”

- Salvatore Mangano
Computer Design, May 1995

Wendy Williams 1 Genetic Algorithms: A

Metaheuristic Algorithms Tutorial
 The Genetic Algorithm
● Directed search algorithms based on
the mechanics of biological evolution
● Developed by John Holland, University
of Michigan (1970’s)
♦ To understand the adaptive processes of
natural systems
♦ To design artificial systems software that
retains the robustness of natural systems

Wendy Williams 2 Genetic Algorithms: A

Metaheuristic Algorithms Tutorial
The Genetic Algorithm (cont.)
● Provide efficient, effective techniques
for optimization and machine learning
applications
● Widely-used today in business,
scientific and engineering circles

Wendy Williams 3 Genetic Algorithms: A

Metaheuristic Algorithms Tutorial
 Classes of Search Techniques
S e a rc h te c h n iq u e s

C a lc u lu s - b a s e d t e c h n iq u e s G u id e d ra n d o m s e a rc h te c h n iq u e s E n u m e r a t iv e t e c h n iq u e s

D ir e c t m e t h o d s I n d ir e c t m e t h o d s E v o lu tio n a ry a lg o rith m s S im u la t e d a n n e a lin g D y n a m ic p r o g r a m m in g

F in o n a c c i N e w to n E v o lu t io n a r y s t r a t e g ie s G e n e tic a lg o rith m s

P a ra lle l S e q u e n tia l

C e n tra liz e d D is trib u te d S te a d y -s ta te G e n e ra tio n a l

Wendy Williams 4 Genetic Algorithms: A

Metaheuristic Algorithms Tutorial
 Components of a GA
A problem to solve, and ...
● Encoding technique (gene, chromosome)
● Initialization procedure (creation)
● Evaluation function (environment)
● Selection of parents (reproduction)
● Genetic operators (mutation, recombination)
● Parameter settings (practice and art)

Wendy Williams 5 Genetic Algorithms: A

Metaheuristic Algorithms Tutorial
 Simple Genetic Algorithm
{
initialize population;
evaluate population;
while TerminationCriteriaNotSatisfied
{
select parents for reproduction;
perform recombination and mutation;
evaluate population;
}
}

Wendy Williams 6 Genetic Algorithms: A

Metaheuristic Algorithms Tutorial
The GA Cycle of Reproduction
children
reproduction modification
modified
parents children
population evaluation
evaluated children
deleted
members

discard

Wendy Williams 7 Genetic Algorithms: A

Metaheuristic Algorithms Tutorial
 Population
population

Chromosomes could be:

♦ Bit strings (0101 ... 1100)
♦ Real numbers (43.2 -33.1 ... 0.0 89.2)
♦ Permutations of element (E11 E3 E7 ... E1 E15)
♦ Lists of rules (R1 R2 R3 ... R22 R23)
♦ Program elements (genetic programming)
♦ ... any data structure ...

Wendy Williams 8 Genetic Algorithms: A

Metaheuristic Algorithms Tutorial
 Reproduction
children
reproduction

parents

population

Parents are selected at random with

selection chances biased in relation to
chromosome evaluations.

Wendy Williams 9 Genetic Algorithms: A

Metaheuristic Algorithms Tutorial
 Chromosome Modification
children
modification
modified children

● Modifications are stochastically triggered

● Operator types are:
♦ Mutation
♦ Crossover (recombination)

Wendy Williams 10 Genetic Algorithms: A

Metaheuristic Algorithms Tutorial
Mutation: Local Modification
Before: (1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0)
After: (0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0)

Before: (1.38 -69.4 326.44 0.1)

After: (1.38 -67.5 326.44 0.1)

● Causes movement in the search space

(local or global)
● Restores lost information to the population
Wendy Williams 11 Genetic Algorithms: A
Metaheuristic Algorithms Tutorial
 Crossover: Recombination
*
P1 (0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0) (0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0) C1
P2 (1 1 0 1 1 0 1 0) (1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0) C2

Crossover is a critical feature of genetic

algorithms:
♦ It greatly accelerates search early in
evolution of a population
♦ It leads to effective combination of
schemata (subsolutions on different
chromosomes)
Wendy Williams 12 Genetic Algorithms: A
Metaheuristic Algorithms Tutorial
 Evaluation
modified
evaluated children
children
evaluation

● The evaluator decodes a chromosome and

assigns it a fitness measure
● The evaluator is the only link between a
classical GA and the problem it is solving
Wendy Williams 13 Genetic Algorithms: A
Metaheuristic Algorithms Tutorial
 Deletion
population
discarded members

discard

● Generational GA:
entire populations replaced with each iteration
● Steady-state GA:
a few members replaced each generation

Wendy Williams 14 Genetic Algorithms: A

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 An Abstract Example

Distribution of Individuals in Generation 0

Distribution of Individuals in Generation N

Wendy Williams 15 Genetic Algorithms: A

Metaheuristic Algorithms Tutorial
 A Simple Example

“The Gene is by far the most sophisticated program around.”

- Bill Gates, Business Week, June 27, 1994

Wendy Williams 16 Genetic Algorithms: A

Metaheuristic Algorithms Tutorial
 A Simple Example

The Traveling Salesman Problem:

Find a tour of a given set of cities so that

♦ each city is visited only once
♦ the total distance traveled is minimized

Wendy Williams 17 Genetic Algorithms: A

Metaheuristic Algorithms Tutorial
 Representation
Representation is an ordered list of city
numbers known as an order-based GA.
1) London 3) Dunedin 5) Beijing 7) Tokyo
2) Venice 4) Singapore 6) Phoenix 8) Victoria

CityList1 (3 5 7 2 1 6 4 8)
CityList2 (2 5 7 6 8 1 3 4)

Wendy Williams 18 Genetic Algorithms: A

Metaheuristic Algorithms Tutorial
 Crossover
Crossover combines inversion and
recombination:
* *
Parent1 (3 5 7 2 1 6 4 8)
Parent2 (2 5 7 6 8 1 3 4)

Child (5 8 7 2 1 6 3 4)

This operator is called the Order1 crossover.

Wendy Williams 19 Genetic Algorithms: A
Metaheuristic Algorithms Tutorial
 Mutation
Mutation involves reordering of the list:

* *
Before: (5 8 7 2 1 6 3 4)

After: (5 8 6 2 1 7 3 4)

Wendy Williams 20 Genetic Algorithms: A

Metaheuristic Algorithms Tutorial
 TSP Example: 30 Cities

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Wendy Williams 21 Genetic Algorithms: A

Metaheuristic Algorithms Tutorial
 Solution i (Distance = 941)
TSP30 (Performance = 941)

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Wendy Williams 22 Genetic Algorithms: A

Metaheuristic Algorithms Tutorial
 Solution j(Distance = 800)
TSP30 (Performance = 800)

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y

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Wendy Williams 23 Genetic Algorithms: A

Metaheuristic Algorithms Tutorial
 Solution k(Distance = 652)
TSP30 (Performance = 652)

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y

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Wendy Williams 24 Genetic Algorithms: A

Metaheuristic Algorithms Tutorial
Best Solution (Distance = 420)
TSP30 Solution (Performance = 420)

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y

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Wendy Williams 25 Genetic Algorithms: A

Metaheuristic Algorithms Tutorial
 Overview of Performance
TSP30 - Overview of Performance

1600

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Distance

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0
Best
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31
Worst
Generations (1000) Average

Wendy Williams 26 Genetic Algorithms: A

Metaheuristic Algorithms Tutorial
Considering the GA Technology
“Almost eight years ago ...
people at Microsoft wrote
a program [that] uses
some genetic things for
finding short code
sequences. Windows 2.0
and 3.2, NT, and almost
all Microsoft applications
products have shipped
with pieces of code
created by that system.”
- Nathan Myhrvold, Microsoft Advanced
Technology Group, Wired, September 1995

Wendy Williams 27 Genetic Algorithms: A

Metaheuristic Algorithms Tutorial
 Issues for GA Practitioners
● Choosing basic implementation issues:
♦ representation
♦ population size, mutation rate, ...
♦ selection, deletion policies
♦ crossover, mutation operators
● Termination Criteria
● Performance, scalability
● Solution is only as good as the evaluation
function (often hardest part)

Wendy Williams 28 Genetic Algorithms: A

Metaheuristic Algorithms Tutorial
Benefits of Genetic Algorithms
● Concept is easy to understand
● Modular, separate from application
● Supports multi-objective optimization
● Good for “noisy” environments
● Always an answer; answer gets better
with time
● Inherently parallel; easily distributed

Wendy Williams 29 Genetic Algorithms: A

Metaheuristic Algorithms Tutorial
Benefits of Genetic Algorithms (cont.)
● Many ways to speed up and improve a
GA-based application as knowledge
about problem domain is gained
● Easy to exploit previous or alternate
solutions
● Flexible building blocks for hybrid
applications
● Substantial history and range of use
Wendy Williams 30 Genetic Algorithms: A
Metaheuristic Algorithms Tutorial
 When to Use a GA
● Alternate solutions are too slow or overly
complicated
● Need an exploratory tool to examine new
approaches
● Problem is similar to one that has already been
successfully solved by using a GA
● Want to hybridize with an existing solution
● Benefits of the GA technology meet key problem
requirements

Wendy Williams 31 Genetic Algorithms: A

Metaheuristic Algorithms Tutorial
 Some GA Application Types
Domain Application Types
Control gas pipeline, pole balancing, missile evasion, pursuit

Design semiconductor layout, aircraft design, keyboard

configuration, communication networks
Scheduling manufacturing, facility scheduling, resource allocation

Robotics trajectory planning

Machine Learning designing neural networks, improving classification

algorithms, classifier systems
Signal Processing filter design

Game Playing poker, checkers, prisoner’s dilemma

Combinatorial set covering, travelling salesman, routing, bin packing,

graph colouring and partitioning
Optimization

Wendy Williams 32 Genetic Algorithms: A

Metaheuristic Algorithms Tutorial
 Conclusions

Question: ‘If GAs are so smart, why ain’t they rich?’

Answer: ‘Genetic algorithms are rich - rich in
application across a large and growing
number of disciplines.’
- David E. Goldberg, Genetic Algorithms in Search, Optimization and Machine Learning

Wendy Williams 33 Genetic Algorithms: A

Metaheuristic Algorithms Tutorial