What is combinatorial optimization? Traditionally, a problem is considered to be c- binatorial if its set of feasible solutions is both ?nite and discrete, i. e. , enumerable. For example, the traveling salesman problem asks in what order a salesman should visit the cities in his territory if he wants to minimize his total mileage (see Sect. 2. 2. 2). The traveling salesman problem's feasible solutions - permutations of city labels - c- prise a ?nite, discrete set. By contrast, Differential Evolution was originally designed to optimize functions de?ned on real spaces. Unlike combinatorial problems, the set of feasible solutions for real parameter optimization is continuous. Although Differential Evolution operates internally with ?oating-point precision, it has been applied with success to many numerical optimization problems that have t- ditionally been classi?ed as combinatorial because their feasible sets are discrete. For example, the knapsack problem's goal is to pack objects of differing weight and value so that the knapsack's total weight is less than a given maximum and the value of the items inside is maximized (see Sect. 2. 2. 1). The set of feasible solutions - vectors whose components are nonnegative integers - is both numerical and discrete. To handle such problems while retaining full precision, Differential Evolution copies ?oating-point - lutions to a temporary vector that, prior to being evaluated, is truncated to the nearest feasible solution, e. g. , by rounding the temporary parameters to the nearest nonnegative integer.

This book brings together the current state of-the-art research in Self Organizing Migrating Algorithm (SOMA) as a novel population-based evolutionary algorithm, modeled on the predator-prey relationship, by its leading practitioners. As the first ever book on SOMA, this book is geared towards graduate students, academics and researchers, who are looking for a good optimization algorithm for their applications. This book presents the methodology of SOMA, covering both the real and discrete domains, and its various implementations in different research areas. The easy-to-follow and implement methodology used in the book will make it easier for a reader to implement, modify and utilize SOMA.

This book brings together the current state of-the-art research in Self Organizing Migrating Algorithm (SOMA) as a novel population-based evolutionary algorithm, modeled on the predator-prey relationship, by its leading practitioners. As the first ever book on SOMA, this book is geared towards graduate students, academics and researchers, who are looking for a good optimization algorithm for their applications. This book presents the methodology of SOMA, covering both the real and discrete domains, and its various implementations in different research areas. The easy-to-follow and implement methodology used in the book will make it easier for a reader to implement, modify and utilize SOMA.