Introduction to Evolutionary Algorithms

Evolution by natural selection is a scientific theory which aims to explain how natural systems evolved over time into more complex systems. In evolutionary algorithms, a fitness value can be used as a guide to indicate how close we are to a solution (eg. the higher the value, the closer we are to our desired objective). By grouping closer together all the elements in a population which share a similar fitnesses and further apart all the dissimilar elements, we can then construct a Fitness Landscape (Figure 1). One of the main problems faced by evolutionary algorithms is the presence of local optima in the fitness landscape. Local optima, can, in fact, mislead our algorithm to not reach our desired global maxima in favour of a less optimal solution.