Genetic Algorithm

Genetic Algorithms
Credits:
Richard Frankel
Stanford University
And
Anas S. To’meh
1
Outline
• Motivations/applicable situations
• What are genetic algorithms?
• Example
• Pros and cons
2
Motivation
• Searching some search spaces with traditional
search methods would be intractable. This is
often true when states/candidate solutions
have a large number of successors.
– Example: Designing the surface of an aircraft.
Image source: http://www.centaursoft.com/cms/index.php?section=25 3

Applicable situations
• Often used for optimization (scheduling,
design, etc.) problems, though can be used for
many other things as well, as we’ll see a bit
later.
– Good problem for GA: Scheduling air traffic
– Bad problems for GA: Finding large primes (why?)
4
Applicable situations
• Genetic algorithms work best when the
“fitness landscape” is continuous (in some
dimensions). This is also true of standard
search, e.g. A*.
– Intuitively, this just means that we can find a
heuristic that gives a rough idea of how close a
candidate is to being a solution.
Image source: scholarpedia.org 5

So what is a genetic algorithm?
• Genetic algorithms are a randomized heuristic
search strategy.
• Basic idea: Simulate natural selection, where
the population is composed of candidate
solutions.
• Focus is on evolving a population from which
strong and diverse candidates can emerge via
mutation and crossover (mating).
6
Basic algorithm
• Create an initial population, either random or
“blank”.
• While the best candidate so far is not a
solution:
– Create new population using successor functions.
– Evaluate the fitness of each candidate in the
population.
• Return the best candidate found.
7
Simple example – alternating string
• Let’s try to evolve a length 4 alternating string
• Initial population: C1=1000, C2=0011
• We roll the dice and end up creating C1’ =
cross (C1, C2) = 1011 and C2’ = cross (C1, C1) =
1000.
• We mutate C1’ and the fourth bit flips, giving
1010. We mutate C2’ and get 1001.
• We run our solution test on each. If C1’ is a
solution, so we return it and are done.
8
Basic components
• Candidate representation
– Important to choose this well. More work here means
less work on the successor functions.
• Successor function(s)
– Mutation, crossover
• Fitness function
• Solution test
• Some parameters
– Population size
– Generation limit
9
Candidate representation
• We want to encode candidates in a way that
makes mutation and crossover easy.
• The typical candidate representation is a
binary string. This string can be thought of as
the genetic code of a candidate – thus the
term “genetic algorithm”!
– Other representations are possible, but they make
crossover and mutation harder.
10
Candidate representation example
• Let’s say we want to represent a rule for classifying
bikes as mountain bikes or hybrid, based on these
attributes*:
– Make (Bridgestone, Cannondale, Nishiki, or Gary Fisher)
– Tire type (knobby, treads)
– Handlebar type (straight, curved)
– Water bottle holder (Boolean)
• We can encode a rule as a binary string, where each bit
represents whether a value is accepted.
Make Tires Handlebars Water bottle
B C N G K T S C Y N
*Bikes scheme used with permission from Mark Maloof.

11
Candidate representation example
• The candidate will be a bit string of length 10,
because we have 10 possible attribute values.
• Let’s say we want a rule that will match any
bike that is made by Bridgestone or
Cannondale, has treaded tires, and has
straight handlebars. This rule could be
represented as 1100011011:
Make Tires Handlebars Water bottle
1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1
B C N G K T S C Y N
12
Successor functions
• Mutation – Given a candidate, return a slightly
different candidate.
• Crossover – Given two candidates, produce
one that has elements of each.
• We don’t always generate a successor for each
candidate. Rather, we generate a successor
population based on the candidates in the
current population, weighted by fitness.
13
Successor functions
• If your candidate representation is just a
binary string, then these are easy:
– Mutate(c): Copy c as c’. For each bit b in c’, flip b
with probability p. Return c’.
– Cross (c1, c2): Create a candidate c such that c[i] =
c1[i] if i % 2 = 0, c[i] = c2[i] otherwise. Return c.
• Alternatively, any other scheme such that c gets roughly
equal information from c1 and c2.
14
Fitness function
• The fitness function is analogous to a heuristic
that estimates how close a candidate is to
being a solution.
• In general, the fitness function should be

consistent for better performance.
• However, even if it is, there are no guarantees.

This is a probabilistic algorithm!
15
Solution test
• Given a candidate, return whether the
candidate is a solution.
• Often just answers the question “does the
candidate satisfy some set of constraints?”
• Optional! Sometimes you just want to do the
best you can in a given number of
generations.
16
New population generation
• How do we come up with a new population?
– Given a population P, generate P’ by performing
crossover |P| times, each time selecting
candidates with probability proportional to their
fitness.
– Get P’’ by mutating each candidate in P’.
– Return P’’.
17
Basic algorithm (recap)
• Create an initial population, either random or
“blank”.
• While the best candidate so far is not a
solution:
– Create new population using successor functions.
– Evaluate the fitness of each candidate in the
population.
• Return the best candidate found.
18
Knapsack Problem
Problem Description:
• You are going on a picnic.

• And have a number of items that you could
take along.
• Each item has a weight and a benefit or
value.
• You can take one of each item at most.
• There is a capacity limit on the weight you
can carry.
• You should carry items with max. values.
Knapsack Problem
Example:
• Item: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
• Benefit: 5 8 3 2 7 9 4
• Weight: 7 8 4 10 4 6 4
• Knapsack holds a maximum of 22 pounds
• Fill it to get the maximum benefit
Genetic Algorithm
Outline of the Basic Genetic Algoritm
1. [Start]
✔ Encoding: represent the individual.
✔ Generate random population of n chromosomes
(suitable solutions for the problem).
2. [Fitness] Evaluate the fitness of each chromosome.
3. [New population] repeating following steps until the
new population is complete.
4. [Selection] Select the best two parents.
5. [Crossover] cross over the parents to form a new
offspring (children).
Genetic Algorithm
Outline of the Basic Genetic Algoritm Cont.
6. [Mutation] With a mutation probability.
7. [Accepting] Place new offspring in a new
population.
8. [Replace] Use new generated population
for a further run of algorithm.
9. [Test] If the end condition is satisfied,
then stop.
10. [Loop] Go to step 2 .
Basic Steps
Start
• Encoding: 0 = not exist, 1 = exist in the Knapsack

Chromosome: 1010110
Item. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Chro 1 0 1 0 1 1 0
Exist? y n y n y y n
=> Items taken: 1, 3 , 5, 6.

• Generate random population of n chromosomes:
a) 0101010
b) 1100100
c) 0100011
Basic Steps Cont.
Fitness & Selection
a) 0101010: Benefit= 19, Weight= 24 🗶

Item 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Chro 0 1 0 1 0 1 0
Benefit 5 8 3 2 7 9 4
Weight 7 8 4 10 4 6 4
b) 1100100: Benefit= 20, Weight= 19. ✔
c) 0100011: Benefit= 21, Weight= 18. ✔
=> We select Chromosomes b & c.

Basic Steps Cont.
Crossover & Mutation
Parent 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0
Parent 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 1
Child 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1
Child 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 1
0 Mutation
Basic Steps Cont.
Accepting, Replacing & Testing
✔ Place new offspring in a new population.

✔ Use new generated population for a further
run of algorithm.
✔ If the end condition is satisfied, then stop.
End conditions:
▪ Number of populations.
▪ Improvement of the best solution.
✔ Else, return to step 2 [Fitness].
Genetic Algorithm
Conclusion
• GA is nondeterministic – two runs

may end with different results
• There’s no indication whether best

individual is optimal
Pros and Cons
• Pros
– Faster (and lower memory requirements) than searching a
very large search space.
– Easy, in that if your candidate representation and fitness
function are correct, a solution can be found without any
explicit analytical work.
• Cons
– Randomized – not optimal or even complete.
– Can get stuck on local maxima, though crossover can help
mitigate this.
– It can be hard to work out how best to represent a
candidate as a bit string (or otherwise).
28

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Genetic Algorithms

Image source: http://www.centaursoft.com/cms/index.php?section=25 3

Image source: scholarpedia.org 5

*Bikes scheme used with permission from Mark Maloof.

• In general, the fitness function should be

• However, even if it is, there are no guarantees.

• You are going on a picnic.

• Encoding: 0 = not exist, 1 = exist in the Knapsack

=> Items taken: 1, 3 , 5, 6.

a) 0101010: Benefit= 19, Weight= 24 🗶

=> We select Chromosomes b & c.

✔ Place new offspring in a new population.

• GA is nondeterministic – two runs

• There’s no indication whether best

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