# Disruption in the context of Genetic Algorithms

I'm trying to do a homework problem which references "disruption" in Genetic Algorithms.

True or false? For 1-point and 2-point crossover, the schemata which have bits that are close together on the string encoding are more likely to be disrupted by crossover.

I think that it is referring to is the creation of children distinct from their parents.

For example, combining the following two parents at a single crossover point at the second digit would just create the same parents again. Thus, no disruption would occur.

p1: 00000
p2: 00001


However, combining the following two parents at a single crossover point at the second digit would create some disruption.

p1: 00000
p2: 01001
c1: 01000
c2: 00001


By intuition, I would measure disruption as the number of bits that are different in a child as compared to the two parents. However, I have no formal definitions of this, despite turning to Google. The closest I've come is to Holland's Schema Theorem, which I think is related, but I would still like a definition or an explanatory reference.

• – David Richerby Jun 24 '14 at 19:11
• Okay, I guess my problem is I don't know what they mean by a schema in that context. I could really use an example. I'm going to ask my prof tonight and hopefully answer my own question by tomorrow. – Seanny123 Jun 24 '14 at 20:36
• Ok. If you figure it out, do post the answer here so others can learn from it! – David Richerby Jun 24 '14 at 23:12
• why dont you quote the question? "disruption" is a semiformal concept wrt GAs etc – vzn Aug 9 '14 at 17:34
• @vzn Done. It's a badly worded question, so I wasn't sure it would help initially. – Seanny123 Aug 9 '14 at 18:57