On the Analysis of the (1 + 1) Evolutionary Algorithm

Abstract

Many experimental results are reported on all types of Evolutionary Algorithms but only few results have been proved. A step towards a theory on Evolutionary Algorithms, in particular, the socalled (1+1) Evolutionary Algorithm is performed. Linear functions are proved to be optimized in expected time O(n ln n) but only mutation rates of size O (1=n) can ensure this behaviour. For some polynomial of degree 2 the optimization needs exponential time. The same is proved for a unimodal function. Both results were not expected by several other authors. Finally, a hierarchy result is proved. Moreover, methods are presented to analyze the behaviour of the (1 + 1) Evolutionary Algorithm.