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module3B_notes

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Genetic Algorithms(21AI71)

Module-3
Genetic Algorithms
Genetic Algorithms(GAs) are adaptive heuristic search algorithms that
belong to the larger part of evolutionary algorithms. Genetic algorithms
are based on the ideas of natural selection and genetics. These are
intelligent exploitation of random searches provided with historical data
to direct the search into the region of better performance in solution
space. They are commonly used to generate high-quality solutions for
optimization problems and search problems.
Genetic algorithms simulate the process of natural selection which
means those species that can adapt to changes in their environment can
survive and reproduce and go to the next generation. In simple words,
they simulate “survival of the fittest” among individuals of consecutive
generations to solve a problem. Each generation consists of a
population of individuals and each individual represents a point in
search space and possible solution. Each individual is represented as a
string of character/integer/float/bits. This string is analogous to the
Chromosome.

Foundation of Genetic Algorithms


Genetic algorithms are based on an analogy with the genetic structure
and behavior of chromosomes of the population. Following is the
foundation of GAs based on this analogy –
1. Individuals in the population compete for resources and mate
1. Those individuals who are successful (fittest) then mate to
create more offspring than others
1. Genes from the “fittest” parent propagate throughout the
generation, that is sometimes parents create offspring which is
better than either parent.
1. Thus each successive generation is more suited for their
environment.
Search space
The population of individuals are maintained within search space. Each
individual represents a solution in search space for given problem. Each
individual is coded as a finite length vector (analogous to chromosome)
of components. These variable components are analogous to Genes.
Thus a chromosome (individual) is composed of several genes (variable
components).

Fitness Score
A Fitness Score is given to each individual which shows the ability of an
individual to “compete”. The individual having optimal fitness score (or
near optimal) are sought.
The GAs maintains the population of n individuals
(chromosome/solutions) along with their fitness scores.The individuals
having better fitness scores are given more chance to reproduce than
others. The individuals with better fitness scores are selected who mate
and produce better offspring by combining chromosomes of parents.
The population size is static so the room has to be created for new
arrivals. So, some individuals die and get replaced by new arrivals
eventually creating new generation when all the mating opportunity of
the old population is exhausted. It is hoped that over successive
generations better solutions will arrive while least fit die.
Each new generation has on average more “better genes” than the
individual (solution) of previous generations. Thus each new generations
have better “partial solutions” than previous generations. Once the
offspring produced having no significant difference from offspring
produced by previous populations, the population is converged. The
algorithm is said to be converged to a set of solutions for the problem.

Operators of Genetic Algorithms


Once the initial generation is created, the algorithm evolves the
generation using following operators –
1) Selection Operator: The idea is to give preference to the individuals
with good fitness scores and allow them to pass their genes to
successive generations.
2) Crossover Operator: This represents mating between individuals.
Two individuals are selected using selection operator and crossover sites
are chosen randomly. Then the genes at these crossover sites are
exchanged thus creating a completely new individual (offspring). For
example –

3) Mutation Operator: The key idea is to insert random genes in


offspring to maintain the diversity in the population to avoid premature
convergence. For example –
Example problem and solution using Genetic Algorithms
Given a target string, the goal is to produce target string starting from a
random string of the same length. In the following implementation,
following analogies are made –
 Characters A-Z, a-z, 0-9, and other special symbols are
considered as genes
 A string generated by these characters is considered as
chromosome/solution/Individual
Fitness score is the number of characters which differ from characters in
target string at a particular index. So individual having lower fitness
value is given more preference.

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