metaheuristic


metaheuristic

(algorithm, complexity, computability)A top-level generalstrategy which guides other heuristics to search forfeasible solutions in domains where the task is hard.

Metaheuristics have been most generally applied to problemsclassified as NP-Hard or NP-Complete by the theory ofcomputational complexity. However, metaheuristics wouldalso be applied to other combinatorial optimisationproblems for which it is known that a polynomial-timesolution exists but is not practical.

Examples of metaheuristics are Tabu Search, simulated annealing, genetic algorithms and memetic algorithms.