Genetic algorithms

Abstract

Many optimization problems of the type arising in scheduling and routing (see Chaps. 10 and 12) are of combinatorial nature, i. e. solutions are obtained by combining and sequencing solution elements. When solving such problems to optimality, the number of solutions to be examined exponentially grows with the problem size. For example, for n solution elements n! different sequences exist. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.