Fast genetic algorithms 论文

摘要

For genetic algorithms (GAs) using a bit-string representation of length n, the general recommendation is to take 1/n as mutation rate. In this work, we discuss whether this is justified for multi-modal functions. Taking jump functions and the (1+1) evolutionary algorithm (EA) as the simplest example, we observe that larger mutation rates give significantly better runtimes. For the Jumpm, n function, any mutation rate between 2/n and m/n leads to a speedup at least exponential in m compared to the standard choice.