simulated annealing

views updated

simulated annealing A powerful enhancement for hill climbing search in which there is a small probability that random moves will be allowed in directions different from the preferred up-hill direction. This permits occasional moves to occur which can allow the hill climber to escape from local maxima. Initially large moves are allowed but a “cooling” regime continuously lowers the probability of random directions during the search and thus the solution tends to settle on the best local maximum.