A note on representations and variation operators

Consideration is given to the effects of representations and operators in evolutionary algorithms. In particular, theorems are presented which establish, under some general assumptions, that no choice of cardinality of a representation offers any intrinsic advantage over another. Functionally equivalent algorithms can be constructed regardless of the chosen representation. Further, a similar effective equivalence of variation operators is shown such that no intrinsic advantage accrues to any particular one-parent operator or any particular two-parent operator.