The GA’s Chromosome

The abstract representation of a solution may be a sequence of bits, bytes, letters or numbers. In each case the solution is composed by several elements (Genes) that may be changed from one solution to another.

In the classic optimization problem of the traveler salesman (given the distances between the cities, find the less expensive sequence to visit all of them), a solution will be a particular sequence of the cities to be visited.

In this case a mutation will be the interchange of the places occupied by two cities in the trip. A crossover will be a combination from two previous routes (parent solutions).

There are many ways in which the crossover may be implemented. How to assemble a new solution, in order for it to partially reflect the behavior of each parent, depends on the problem itself.