abstract = "We investigated several methods for using expert
knowledge in evolutionary search, and compared their
impact on performance and scalability into increasingly
complex problems. We collected data over one thousand
randomly generated problems. We then simulated
collecting expert knowledge for each problem by
optimizing an approximated version of the exact
solution. We then compared six different methods of
seeding the approximate model in to the genetic
program, such as using the entire approximate model at
once or breaking it into pieces. Contrary to common
intuition, we found that inserting the complete expert
solution into the population is not the best way to use
that information; using parts of that solution is often
more effective. Additionally, we found that each method
scaled differently based on the complexity and accuracy
of the approximate solution. Inserting randomized
pieces of the approximate solution into the population
scaled the best into high complexity problems and was
the most invariant to the accuracy of the approximate
solution. Furthermore, this method produced the least
bloated solutions of all methods. In general, methods
that used randomized parameter coefficients scaled best
with the approximate error, and methods that inserted
entire approximate solutions scaled worst with the
problem complexity.",
notes = "GECCO-2009 A joint meeting of the eighteenth
international conference on genetic algorithms
(ICGA-2009) and the fourteenth annual genetic
programming conference (GP-2009).