Mutation
Tweet to @BrainlessmunkeyIn biology, errors happen all the time. When our genetic sequences are copied are transferred, things can go wrong and a different allele can be encoded. If we write our programs well and make strong functional contracts, we don’t have to worry about these types of problems; unless we choose to.
In Generic Algorithms, mutation is nigh-ubiquitous. At a high level, mutation is any function from a single individual to another individual. Since many genetic sequences are binary, this is accomplished through a flipping operator. Given the legal values of an allele, if that allele is selected for mutation, its value is randomly swapped with another random legal value. That being said, any allele-centric function may be used. In the case of an integer genome, like the one in our example, we could exchange it with an incrementing or decrementing function. In either case, this is what the result could look like:
| Solution ID | Hammers | Screwdrivers | Nails | AA Batteries | Screws |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 0 | 2 | 50 | 10 | 4 |
| Mutant | 1 | 2 | 50 | 10 | 4 |
Note that the genetic sequences are nearly identical. This is intentional, as many Genetic Algorithms choose a mutation rate equal to 1 divided by the length of the genetic sequence; however, better strategies may exist. Mutation, as a class of operators, serves the purpose of breaking out of local optima. As successful genetic patterns are copied, they may begin to prematurely converge towards a good-but-not-great region. With small, infrequent changes, solutions may hop towards nearby potential regions that could have been ignored.