Introduction: Problem Solving, EC and EMO

This book explores some emerging techniques for problem solving of a general nature, based on the tools of EMO. In this introduction, we provide background material to support the reader’s journey through the succeeding chapters. Given here are a basic introduction to optimization problems, and an introductory treatment of evolutionary computation, with thoughts on why this method is so successful; we then discuss multiobjective problems, providing definitions that some future chapters rely on, covering some of the key concepts behind multiobjective optimization. These show how optimization can be carried out separately from subjective factors, even when there are multiple and conflicting ends to the optimization process. This leads to a set of trade-off solutions none of which is inherently better than any other. Both the process of multiobjective optimization, and the set of trade-offs resulting from it, are ripe areas for innovation — for new techniques for problem solving. We briefly preview how the chapters of this book exploit these concepts, and indicate the connections between them.