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Comparison of Metaheuristics

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Book cover Handbook of Metaheuristics

Part of the book series: International Series in Operations Research & Management Science ((ISOR,volume 146))

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Abstract

Metaheuristics are truly diverse in nature—under the overarching theme of performing operations to escape local optima, algorithms as different as ant colony optimization, tabu search, harmony search, and genetic algorithms have emerged. Due to the unique functionality of each type of metaheuristic, comparison of metaheuristics is in many ways more difficult than other algorithmic comparisons. In this chapter, we discuss techniques for meaningful comparison of metaheuristics. We discuss how to create and classify instances in a new testbed and how to make sure other researchers have access to the problems for future metaheuristic comparisons. Further, we discuss the disadvantages of large parameter sets and how to measure complicating parameter interactions in a metaheuristic’s parameter space. Last, we discuss how to compare metaheuristics in terms of both solution quality and runtime.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Scientific Computing and Mathematical Modeling, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20740, USA

    John Silberholz

  2. R.H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20740, USA

    Bruce Golden

Authors
  1. John Silberholz
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  2. Bruce Golden
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Correspondence to John Silberholz or Bruce Golden .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Département de mathématiques et génie in, École Polytechnique Montréal, Montreal, H3C 3A7, Québec, Canada

    Michel Gendreau

  2. Dépt. Informatique et Recherche, Opérationnelle, Université de Montreal, Pavillon André-Aisenstadt, Montreal, H3C 3J7, Québec, Canada

    Jean-Yves Potvin

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Silberholz, J., Golden, B. (2010). Comparison of Metaheuristics. In: Gendreau, M., Potvin, JY. (eds) Handbook of Metaheuristics. International Series in Operations Research & Management Science, vol 146. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1665-5_21

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