A Genetic Algorithm to Solve the Maximum Partition Problem

Abstract

In this paper we present the results of an investigation of the possibilities offered by genetic algorithms to solve the timetable problem. This problem has been chosen since it is representative of the class of multi-constrained, NP-hard, combinatorial optimization problems with real-world application. First we present our model, including the definition of a hierarchical structure for the objective function and the generalized genetic operators which can be applied to matrices representing timetables. Then we report about the outcomes of the utilization of the implemented system to the specific case of the generation of a school timetable. We compare two versions of the genetic algorithm (GA), with and without local search, both to a handmade timetable and to two other approaches based on simulated annealing and tabu search. Our results show that GA with local search and tabu search with relaxation both outperform simulated annealing and handmade timetables. (Introduction) Evolutio...