Genetic

Algorithms
Introduction

 After scientists became disillusioned with classical and

neo-classical attempts at modeling intelligence, they
looked in other directions.
 Two prominent fields arose, connectionism (neural
networking, parallel processing) and evolutionary
computing.
 It is the latter that this essay deals with - genetic
algorithms and genetic programming.
What is GA
 A genetic algorithm (or GA) is a search
technique used in computing to find true or
approximate solutions to optimization and
search problems.
 Genetic algorithms are categorized as global
search heuristics.
 Genetic algorithms are a particular class of
evolutionary algorithms that use techniques
inspired by evolutionary biology such as
inheritance, mutation, selection, and crossover
(also called recombination).
What is GA

 Genetic algorithms are implemented as a

computer simulation in which a
population of abstract representations
(called chromosomes or the genotype or
the genome) of candidate solutions
(called individuals, creatures, or
phenotypes) to an optimization problem
evolves toward better solutions.

 Traditionally, solutions are represented in

binary as strings of 0s and 1s, but other
encodings are also possible.
What is GA

 The evolution usually starts from a

population of randomly generated
individuals and happens in generations.

 In each generation, the fitness of every

individual in the population is evaluated,
multiple individuals are selected from the
current population (based on their
fitness), and modified (recombined and
possibly mutated) to form a new
population.
What is GA
 The new population is then used in the next iteration of the algorithm.
 Commonly, the algorithm terminates when either a maximum number of
generations has been produced, or a satisfactory fitness level has been
reached for the population.
 If the algorithm has terminated due to a maximum number of generations,
a satisfactory solution may or may not have been reached.
Key terms

 Individual - Any possible solution

 Population - Group of all individuals
 Search Space - All possible solutions to the
problem
 Chromosome - Blueprint for an individual
 Trait - Possible aspect (features) of an individual
 Allele - Possible settings of trait (black, blond,
etc.)
 Locus - The position of a gene on the chromosome
 Genome - Collection of all chromosomes for an
individual
Chromosome, Genes and
Genomes
Genotype and Phenotype

 Genotype:
– Particular set of genes in a genome

 Phenotype:
– Physical characteristic of the genotype (smart,
beautiful, healthy, etc.)
Genotype and Phenotype
GA Requirements
 A typical genetic algorithm requires two things to be defined:
 a genetic representation of the solution domain, and
 a fitness function to evaluate the solution domain.

 A standard representation of the solution is as an array of bits.

Arrays of other types and structures can be used in essentially
the same way.
 The main property that makes these genetic representations
convenient is that their parts are easily aligned due to their
fixed size, that facilitates simple crossover operation.
 Variable length representations may also be used, but
crossover implementation is more complex in this case.
 Tree-like representations are explored in Genetic
programming.
Representation

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 ...
GA Requirements
 The fitness function is defined over the genetic
representation and measures the quality of the represented
solution.
 The fitness function is always problem dependent.
 For instance, in the knapsack problem we want to maximize
the total value of objects that we can put in a knapsack of
some fixed capacity.
 A representation of a solution might be an array of bits,
where each bit represents a different object, and the value
of the bit (0 or 1) represents whether or not the object is in
the knapsack.
 Not every such representation is valid, as the size of objects
may exceed the capacity of the knapsack.
 The fitness of the solution is the sum of values of all objects
in the knapsack if the representation is valid, or 0 otherwise.
In some problems, it is hard or even impossible to define the
fitness expression; in these cases, interactive genetic
algorithms are used.
A fitness function
Basics of GA
 The most common type of genetic algorithm works like this:
 a population is created with a group of individuals created
randomly.
 The individuals in the population are then evaluated.
 The evaluation function is provided by the programmer and
gives the individuals a score based on how well they perform
at the given task.
 Two individuals are then selected based on their fitness, the
higher the fitness, the higher the chance of being selected.
 These individuals then "reproduce" to create one or more
offspring, after which the offspring are mutated randomly.
 This continues until a suitable solution has been found or a
certain number of generations have passed, depending on
the needs of the programmer.
General Algorithm for GA
 Initialization
 Initially many individual solutions are randomly
generated to form an initial population. The
population size depends on the nature of the
problem, but typically contains several
hundreds or thousands of possible solutions.
 Traditionally, the population is generated
randomly, covering the entire range of possible
solutions (the search space).
 Occasionally, the solutions may be "seeded" in
areas where optimal solutions are likely to be
found.
 General Algorithm for GA
 Selection
 During each successive generation, a proportion of the
existing population is selected to breed a new generation.
 Individual solutions are selected through a fitness-based
process, where fitter solutions (as measured by a fitness
function) are typically more likely to be selected.
 Certain selection methods rate the fitness of each solution
and preferentially select the best solutions. Other methods
rate only a random sample of the population, as this process
may be very time-consuming.
 Most functions are stochastic and designed so that a small
proportion of less fit solutions are selected. This helps keep
the diversity of the population large, preventing premature
convergence on poor solutions. Popular and well-studied
selection methods include roulette wheel selection and
tournament selection.
General Algorithm for GA
 In roulette wheel selection, individuals are given a probability of being
selected that is directly proportionate to their fitness.

 Two individuals are then chosen randomly based on these probabilities and
produce offspring.
General Algorithm for GA
Roulette Wheel’s Selection Pseudo Code:
for all members of population
sum += fitness of this individual
end for
for all members of population
probability = sum of probabilities + (fitness / sum)
sum of probabilities += probability
end for
loop until new population is full
do this twice
number = Random between 0 and 1
for all members of population
if number > probability but less than next probability then
you have been selected
end for
end
create offspring
end loop
General Algorithm for GA
 Reproduction
 The next step is to generate a second generation population
of solutions from those selected through genetic operators:
crossover (also called recombination), and/or mutation.
 For each new solution to be produced, a pair of "parent"
solutions is selected for breeding from the pool selected
previously.
 By producing a "child" solution using the above methods of
crossover and mutation, a new solution is created which
typically shares many of the characteristics of its "parents".
New parents are selected for each child, and the process
continues until a new population of solutions of appropriate
size is generated.
General Algorithm for GA
 These processes ultimately result in the next generation population of
chromosomes that is different from the initial generation.

 Generally the average fitness will have increased by this procedure for the
population, since only the best organisms from the first generation are
selected for breeding, along with a small proportion of less fit solutions,
for reasons already mentioned above.
 Crossover
 the most common type is single point crossover. In
single point crossover, you choose a locus at which you
swap the remaining alleles from on parent to the other.
This is complex and is best understood visually.
 As you can see, the children take one section of the
chromosome from each parent.
 The point at which the chromosome is broken depends
on the randomly selected crossover point.
 This particular method is called single point crossover
because only one crossover point exists. Sometimes
only child 1 or child 2 is created, but oftentimes both
offspring are created and put into the new population.
 Crossover does not always occur, however. Sometimes,
based on a set probability, no crossover occurs and the
parents are copied directly to the new population. The
probability of crossover occurring is usually 60% to 70%.
Crossover
Mutation

 After selection and crossover, you now have a new

population full of individuals.
 Some are directly copied, and others are produced by
crossover.
 In order to ensure that the individuals are not all exactly the
same, you allow for a small chance of mutation.
 You loop through all the alleles of all the individuals, and if
that allele is selected for mutation, you can either change it
by a small amount or replace it with a new value. The
probability of mutation is usually between 1 and 2 tenths of
a percent.
 Mutation is fairly simple. You just change the selected alleles
based on what you feel is necessary and move on. Mutation
is, however, vital to ensuring genetic diversity within the
population.
Mutation
 General Algorithm for GA
 Termination

 This generational process is repeated until a

termination condition has been reached.
 Common terminating conditions are:
 A solution is found that satisfies minimum criteria
 Fixed number of generations reached
 Allocated budget (computation time/money) reached
 The highest ranking solution's fitness is reaching or has
reached a plateau such that successive iterations no
longer produce better results
 Manual inspection
 Any Combinations of the above
GA Pseudo-code
Choose initial population
Evaluate the fitness of each individual in the population
Repeat

Select best-ranking individuals to reproduce

Breed new generation through crossover and mutation

(genetic operations) and give birth to offspring

Evaluate the individual fitnesses of the offspring

Replace worst ranked part of population with offspring

Until <terminating condition>

 Genetic Programming
 In programming languages such as LISP, the
mathematical notation is not written in standard
notation, but in prefix notation. Some examples of this:
 +21 : 2+1
 *+212 : 2 * (2+1)
 *+-2149 : 9 * ((2 - 1) + 4)
 Notice the difference between the left-hand side to the
right? Apart from the order being different, no
parenthesis! The prefix method makes it a lot easier for
programmers and compilers alike, because order
precedence is not an issue.
 You can build expression trees out of these strings that
then can be easily evaluated, for example, here are the
trees for the above three expressions.
Genetic Programming
Genetic Programming
 You can see how expression evaluation is thus a lot
easier.
 What this have to do with GAs? If for example you
have numerical data and 'answers', but no
expression to conjoin the data with the answers.
 A genetic algorithm can be used to 'evolve' an
expression tree to create a very close fit to the
data.
 By 'splicing' and 'grafting' the trees and evaluating
the resulting expression with the data and testing
it to the answers, the fitness function can return
how close the expression is.
Genetic Programming
 The limitations of genetic programming lie in the huge search space the
GAs have to search for - an infinite number of equations.
 Therefore, normally before running a GA to search for an equation, the
user tells the program which operators and numerical ranges to search
under.
 Uses of genetic programming can lie in stock market prediction, advanced
mathematics and military applications .
Evolving Neural Networks

 Evolving the architecture of neural network is slightly

more complicated, and there have been several ways of
doing it. For small nets, a simple matrix represents
which neuron connects which, and then this matrix is,
in turn, converted into the necessary 'genes', and
various combinations of these are evolved.
Evolving Neural Networks
 Many would think that a learning function could be
evolved via genetic programming. Unfortunately,
genetic programming combined with neural
networks could be incredibly slow, thus
impractical.
 As with many problems, you have to constrain what
you are attempting to create.
 For example, in 1990, David Chalmers attempted to
evolve a function as good as the delta rule.
 He did this by creating a general equation based
upon the delta rule with 8 unknowns, which the
genetic algorithm then evolved.
Other Areas

 Genetic Algorithms can be applied to virtually any

problem that has a large search space.

 Al Biles uses genetic algorithms to filter out 'good' and

'bad' riffs for jazz improvisation.

 The military uses GAs to evolve equations to

differentiate between different radar returns.

 Stock companies use GA-powered programs to predict

the stock market.
Example

 f(x) = {MAX(x2): 0 <= x <= 32 }

 Encode Solution: Just use 5 bits (1 or 0).
 Generate initial population.
A 0 1 1 0 1
B 1 1 0 0 0
C 0 1 0 0 0
D 1 0 0 1 1

 Evaluate each solution against objective.

Sol. String Fitness % of Total
A 01101 169 14.4
B 11000 576 49.2
C 01000 64 5.5
D 10011 361 30.9
Example Cont’d

 Create next generation of solutions

 Probability of “being a parent” depends on the
fitness.
 Ways for parents to create next generation
 Reproduction
 Use a string again unmodified.
 Crossover
 Cut and paste portions of one string to another.
 Mutation
 Randomly flip a bit.
 COMBINATION of all of the above.
Checkboard example
 We are given an n by n checkboard in
which every field can have a different
colour from a set of four colors.
 Goal is to achieve a checkboard in a
way that there are no neighbours with
the same color (not diagonal)
1 1

2 2

3 3

4 4

5 5

6 6

7 7

8 8

9 9

10 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Checkboard example Cont’d

 Chromosomes represent the way the checkboard

is colored.
 Chromosomes are not represented by bitstrings
but by bitmatrices
 The bits in the bitmatrix can have one of the
four values 0, 1, 2 or 3, depending on the color.
 Crossing-over involves matrix manipulation
instead of point wise operating.
 Crossing-over can be combining the parential
matrices in a horizontal, vertical, triangular or
square way.
 Mutation remains bitwise changing bits in either
one of the other numbers.
Checkboard example Cont’d

• This problem can be seen as a graph with n nodes and (n-

1) edges, so the fitness f(x) is defined as:

f(x) = 2 · (n-1) ·n
Checkboard example Cont’d
• Fitnesscurves for different cross-over rules:

Lower-Triangular Crossing Over Square Crossing Over

180 180

170 170

160 160
Fitness

150 150

140 140

130 130
0 100 200 300 400 500 0 200 400 600 800

Horizontal Cutting Crossing Over Verical Cutting Crossing Over

180 180

170 170

160 160
Fitness

150 150

140 140

130 130
0 200 400 600 800 0 500 1000 1500
Generations Generations
THANK YOU