0
$\begingroup$

I have a course named "Evolutionary Algorithm". But, our teacher is always mentioning the word "Optimization" in his lectures.

I am confused. Is he actually teaching Optimization? If yes, why is the name of the course not "Optimization"?

What is the difference between the study of Evolutionary algorithm and Optimization?

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
1
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Just because a word is mentioned frequently in a lecture doesn't mean the lecture is (only) about that word. $\endgroup$
    – Tom van der Zanden
    Commented Sep 24, 2018 at 10:10

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
2
$\begingroup$

Indeed, in evolutionary algorithms, you are optimizing an objective function. Hence, evolutionary algorithms are algorithms for optimization. Hence, they are the specific case of optimization methods. However, there are a vast variety of optimization methods that are not an evolutionary algorithm (such as simplex methods in OR, Lagrange methods and so on). See more about the evolutionary algorithms here:

In artificial intelligence, an evolutionary algorithm (EA) is a subset of evolutionary computation1, a generic population-based metaheuristic optimization algorithm.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.