How to generate population from pre-defined individuals?

[NamLQ]

Hi!

Suppose I have 100 solutions and have selected the five best ones. How can I generate 50 new individuals from the five best ones with pcrossover = 0.8 and pmutation = 0.1?

Thank you very much!

[luca-scr]

Maybe you want to use arg 'suggestions' in ga() function call.

[NamLQ]

If I use arg suggestions in ga(), the algorithm will calculate the fitness function base on the solutions I gave or the algorithm will generate new individuals and calculate the fitness from the new ones?

[luca-scr]

As described in the help page, the suggested solutions you provide will be included in the initial population, then the fitness function will be evaluated on that solutions and genetic operators applied as usual.

[NamLQ]

I use GA for feature selection in machine learning and the fitness function is time-consuming. So it is better if:

• the algorithm accepts the fitness values of suggested solutions, or
• the algorithm generates new individuals based on the suggested solutions, and the fitness function will only be evaluated on those new ones.

[luca-scr]

I will go with 2nd option and uses memoization to avoid evaluating again the fitness function of already known solutions. See the vignette for an example.