On the Bias and Performance of the Edge-Set Encoding

The edge-set encoding of trees directly represents trees as sets of their edges. Nonheuristic operators for edge-sets manipulate trees' edges without regard for their weights, while heuristic operators consider edges' weights when including or excluding them. In the latter case, the operators generally favor edges with lower weights, and they tend to generate trees that resemble minimum spanning trees. This bias is strong, which suggests that evolutionary algorithms (EAs) that employ heuristic operators will succeed when optimum solutions resemble minimum spanning trees (MSTs) but fail otherwise.