Multiparent Recombination in Evolutionary Computing

Abstract

This chapter considers multiparent reproduction, where more than two parents are involved in creating offspring. First we give a survey of multiparent operators that have been introduced over the years in evolutionary computing and we reformulate the traditional mutation-or-crossover debate in the light of such operators. Second, we present some existing results on the usefulness of multiparent operators. We conclude the chapter with a look at future developments and some suggestions for further research.