Book Image

Hands-On Genetic Algorithms with Python

By : Eyal Wirsansky
Book Image

Hands-On Genetic Algorithms with Python

By: Eyal Wirsansky

Overview of this book

Genetic algorithms are a family of search, optimization, and learning algorithms inspired by the principles of natural evolution. By imitating the evolutionary process, genetic algorithms can overcome hurdles encountered in traditional search algorithms and provide high-quality solutions for a variety of problems. This book will help you get to grips with a powerful yet simple approach to applying genetic algorithms to a wide range of tasks using Python, covering the latest developments in artificial intelligence. After introducing you to genetic algorithms and their principles of operation, you'll understand how they differ from traditional algorithms and what types of problems they can solve. You'll then discover how they can be applied to search and optimization problems, such as planning, scheduling, gaming, and analytics. As you advance, you'll also learn how to use genetic algorithms to improve your machine learning and deep learning models, solve reinforcement learning tasks, and perform image reconstruction. Finally, you'll cover several related technologies that can open up new possibilities for future applications. By the end of this book, you'll have hands-on experience of applying genetic algorithms in artificial intelligence as well as in numerous other domains.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
1
Section 1: The Basics of Genetic Algorithms
4
Section 2: Solving Problems with Genetic Algorithms
9
Section 3: Artificial Intelligence Applications of Genetic Algorithms
14
Section 4: Related Technologies

Solving the N-Queens problem

Originally known as the eight-queen puzzle, the classic N-Queens problem originated from the game of chess, and the 8x8 chessboard was its early playground. The task was to place eight chess queens on the board without any two of them threatening each other. In other words, no two queens can share the same row, same column, or same diagonal. The N-Queens problem is similar, using an N×N chessboard and N chess queens.

The problem is known to have a solution for any natural number, n, except for the cases of n=2 and n=3. For the original eight-queen case, there are 92 solutions, or 12 unique solutions if we consider symmetrical solutions to be identical. One of the solutions is as follows:

One of the 92 possible solutions for the eight-queen puzzle

By applying combinatorics, the count of all possible ways to place eight pieces on the 8×8 board...