Genetic Algorithm Key Terms, Explained

Genetic algorithms, inspired by natural selection, are a commonly used approach to approximating solutions to optimization and search problems. Their necessity lies in the fact that there exist problems which are too computationally complex to solve in any acceptable (or determinant) amount of time. Take the well-known travelling salesman problem, for example. As the number of cities involved in the problem grow, the time required for determining a solution quickly becomes unmanageable. Solving the problem for 5 cities, for example, is a trivial task; solving it for 50, on the other hand, would take an amount of time so unreasonable as to never complete.