Skip to main content

On the Choice of the Population Size

  • Conference paper
Book cover Genetic and Evolutionary Computation – GECCO 2004 (GECCO 2004)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 3102))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs) are population-based randomized optimizers often solving problems quite successfully. Here, the focus is on the possible effects of changing the parent population size. Therefore, new functions are presented where for a simple mutation-based EA even a decrease of the population size by one leads from an efficient optimization to an enormous running time with an overwhelming probability. This is proven rigorously for all feasible population sizes. In order to obtain these results, new methods for the analysis of the EA are developed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Jansen, T., De Jong, K.: An Analysis of the Role of the Offspring Population Size in Evolutionary Algorithms. In: Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO), pp. 238–246 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  • Jansen, T., Wegener, I.: Evolutionary Algorithms – How to Cope with Plateaus of Constant Fitness and when to Reject Strings with the Same Fitness. IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation 5, 589–599 (2001a)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jansen, T., Wegener, I.: On the Utility of Populations in Evolutionary Algorithms. Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO), pp. 1034–1041 (2001b)

    Google Scholar 

  • Motwani, R., Raghavan, P.: Randomized Algorithms. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1995)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Rudolph, G.: How Mutation and Selection Solve Long-Path Problems in Polynomial Expected Time. Evolutionary Computation 4(2), 195–205 (1997)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Wegener, I.: Methods for the Analysis of Evolutionary Algorithms on Pseudo-Boolean Functions. In: Sarker, R., Yao, X., Mohammadian, M. (eds.) Evolutionary Optimization, pp. 349–369. Kluwer, New York (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  • Witt, C.: Population Size vs. Runtime of a Simple EA. In: Proceedings of the Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC), pp. 1996–2003 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2004 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Storch, T. (2004). On the Choice of the Population Size. In: Deb, K. (eds) Genetic and Evolutionary Computation – GECCO 2004. GECCO 2004. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 3102. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-24854-5_76

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-24854-5_76

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-22344-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-24854-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics