Estimate Hitting Time by Hitting Probability for Elitist Evolutionary Algorithms

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: He, Jun, Chong, Siang Yew, Yao, Xin
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
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author He, Jun
Chong, Siang Yew
Yao, Xin
author_facet He, Jun
Chong, Siang Yew
Yao, Xin
contents Drift analysis is a powerful tool for analyzing the time complexity of evolutionary algorithms. However, it requires manual construction of drift functions to bound hitting time for each specific algorithm and problem. To address this limitation, general linear drift functions were introduced for elitist evolutionary algorithms. But calculating linear bound coefficients effectively remains a problem. This paper proposes a new method called drift analysis of hitting probability to compute these coefficients. Each coefficient is interpreted as a bound on the hitting probability of a fitness level, transforming the task of estimating hitting time into estimating hitting probability. A novel drift analysis method is then developed to estimate hitting probability, where paths are introduced to handle multimodal fitness landscapes. Explicit expressions are constructed to compute hitting probability, significantly simplifying the estimation process. One advantage of the proposed method is its ability to estimate both the lower and upper bounds of hitting time and to compare the performance of two algorithms in terms of hitting time. To demonstrate this application, two algorithms for the knapsack problem, each incorporating feasibility rules and greedy repair respectively, are compared. The analysis indicates that neither constraint handling technique consistently outperforms the other.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_15602
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Estimate Hitting Time by Hitting Probability for Elitist Evolutionary Algorithms
He, Jun
Chong, Siang Yew
Yao, Xin
Neural and Evolutionary Computing
Drift analysis is a powerful tool for analyzing the time complexity of evolutionary algorithms. However, it requires manual construction of drift functions to bound hitting time for each specific algorithm and problem. To address this limitation, general linear drift functions were introduced for elitist evolutionary algorithms. But calculating linear bound coefficients effectively remains a problem. This paper proposes a new method called drift analysis of hitting probability to compute these coefficients. Each coefficient is interpreted as a bound on the hitting probability of a fitness level, transforming the task of estimating hitting time into estimating hitting probability. A novel drift analysis method is then developed to estimate hitting probability, where paths are introduced to handle multimodal fitness landscapes. Explicit expressions are constructed to compute hitting probability, significantly simplifying the estimation process. One advantage of the proposed method is its ability to estimate both the lower and upper bounds of hitting time and to compare the performance of two algorithms in terms of hitting time. To demonstrate this application, two algorithms for the knapsack problem, each incorporating feasibility rules and greedy repair respectively, are compared. The analysis indicates that neither constraint handling technique consistently outperforms the other.
title Estimate Hitting Time by Hitting Probability for Elitist Evolutionary Algorithms
topic Neural and Evolutionary Computing
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.15602