Choosing the Fitness Function

Absolute Error with Selection Range
 
The Absolute Error With Selection Range fitness function explores the idea of a selection range and a precision. The selection range is used as a limit for selection to operate, above which the performance of a program on a particular fitness case contributes nothing to its fitness. And the precision is the limit for improvement, as it allows the fine-tuning of the evolved solutions as accurately as possible.

Mathematically, the fitness fi of an individual program i is expressed by the equation:

where R is the selection range, P(ij) the value predicted by the individual program i for fitness case j (out of n fitness cases) and Tj is the target value for fitness case j. Note that the absolute value term corresponds to the absolute error. This term is what is called the precision and if the error is smaller than or equal to the precision then the error becomes zero. Thus, for a good match the absolute value term is zero and fi = fmax = nR.

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