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I Ching philosophy inspired optimization

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2017 13th IEEE International Conference on Control & Automation (ICCA)
July 3-6, 2017. Ohrid, Macedonia
I Ching Philosophy Inspired Optimization
Zhengyang Li1,2, Xiaoyi Feng1,2, Wenzhe Duan1,2, Yixin Yang1,2, Bo Liu1,2*
1
Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
2
Division of Mathematics and Advanced Technology,
National Center for Mathematics and Interdisciplinary Sciences, Beijing, China
lizy@amss.ac.cn (ZYL), bliu@amss.ac.cn (BL)
Abstract
I Ching (Chinese characters:  ) philosophy,
stemming from ancient Chinese culture, is Chinese view of
empiricism, world outlook and dialectics. Over thousands of
years of evolving and interpretation, its cosmological wisdom
has broad and profound influences not only on Chinese
prevailing philosophy, but also on westerns. I Ching
concentrates on the virtue of being moderate and appropriate,
representing the balance by which it is contended that
power/destiny can be well generated/controlled. Among the
whole 64 hexagrams in I Ching, is the QIAN hexagram which
is ranked in the first place, standing for the strong action and
the everlasting desire for success. Behind I Ching philosophy
lie the thinking and action models of optimization, specifically,
identification from changing states, embracing vision, and
optimal action obeying the balance of moderateness and
appropriateness. I Ching philosophy could act as the driving
force to establish and develop new optimization scheme. In this
regard, enlightened by I Ching philosophy, particularly the
QIAN hexagram, we propose I Ching philosophy inspired
optimization, labeled as ICO for continuous optimization
problems. Characterized by population-based, stochastic,
iterative, and empiricism inspired features, the ICO evolves the
population of solutions by multiple searching operators
derived from underlying mechanism of the QIAN hexagram,
as expected that the balance between global exploration and
local exploitation can be well achieved. Specifically, the whole
population is divided into four subpopulations, each of which
corresponds to one solid line (state in the QIAN hexagram),
then five search operators are developed to perform the
learning, emerging, controlling, chasing and stabilizing
operations on each subpopulation. The performances of the
proposed ICO are investigated on well-known testing
benchmarks and digital IIR filter designing problem which is
crucial in control field. Comparisons with several state-of-the-
art algorithms show the efficacy of the proposed ICO
algorithm.
Keywords
Continuous optimization, digital IIR filter
designing, I Ching, population based algorithm, the QIAN
hexagram.
I. INTRODUCTION
Originating in 1000-750 BC from ancient Chinese culture,
This work was supported in part by National Natural Science
Foundation of China (Grant Nos.71390331, 61673058), National Science
Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars of China (Grant No. 61525304),
Defense Industrial Technology Development Program, and Key Research
Program of Frontier Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences (QYZDB-
SSW-SYS020).
978-1-5386-2679-5/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE 353
I Ching, also known as Classic of Changes, (Chinese
characters:  ) and its underlying changing philosophy
have implications on the balance of moderateness and
appropriateness, by which it is contended that power/destiny
can be well generated/controlled [1]. The core concepts lie in
I Ching, including identification, vision and action [2].
Specifically, by grasping the historical and current
information, one can identify current state by classification,
then act or respond reasonably based on current states and
future vision, so that long-term success could be achieved.
The philosophical implication inspired by I Ching has
profound influences not only on Chinese but also on worlds7
religion, psychoanalysis, business, literature, art, even
mathematics [2-4]. For instance, "Self-Discipline and Social
Commitment" which stems from I Ching serves as the motto
of Tsinghua University, which has been stimulating scholars
and students to devote themselves to improve social welfare
so as to make a better world [5]. Leibnitz stated that Chinese
has independently developed their own binary system in I
Ching [6].
As observed ahead, behind I Ching philosophy lie the
thinking and action models of optimization, specifically,
identification from changing states, embracing vision, and
optimal action obeying the balance of moderateness and
appropriateness. I Ching philosophy could act as the driving
force to establish and develop new optimization scheme. In I
Ching, surrounding environment, human behaviors as well as
their coupling relationships are abstracted into 64 hexagrams,
which are the foundation of I Ching divination [7]. Among
the whole 64 hexagrams in I Ching, is the QIAN hexagram
(Chinese characters:
) which is ranked in the first place
[1]. The implication behind QIAN hexagram is classic of
changes, the strong action, the everlasting desire for success,
and harmony between man and nature [2]. In this regard,
enlightened by I Ching philosophy, particularly the QIAN
hexagram, researchers may embark on the development of
novel optimization mechanism as an important complement
for optimization field.
Due to the complexities of optimization problems,
optimization techniques have caught much attention from
various fields [8-14]. So far researchers have proposed
various kinds of methods based on different optimization
mechanisms to tackle difficulties [15-20]. For instance, the
gradients based exact solution techniques (e.g., steepest
descent method, conjugate gradients method and quasi-
newton method) which utilize the first or second order
derivatives information are of computational efficiency,
nevertheless they are sensitive to initial solutions and easy to
be trapped into local minima especially for multimodal
problems [16]. Starting from one or a set of solutions and
gradually improving the solution(s) by applying some
specific problem knowledge, the improvement approaches,
i.e., the single solution-based metaheuristics (e.g., simulated
annealing [21]) or the population-based metaheuristics (e.g.,
genetic algorithms [22]) have been applicable to a wide
range of problems without being tailored and can find near-
or global-optimal solutions with acceptable computational
costs [16]. Improvement approaches are characterized by
iterative, random, and often biologically or socially inspired
features, which represent a range of universal problem
solvers [23]. So far, a large amount of improvement
approaches have been proposed. Among this kind of
category are genetic algorithms (GAs) [22], evolutionary
programming [24, 25], evolution strategy (ES) [26], genetic
programming (GP) [27], swarm intelligence (e.g., ant colony
optimization and particle swarm optimization) [28-33],
differential evolution (DE) [34-36], and artificial immune
systems (AIS) [37], which have shown great potential in
tackling some hard optimization problems in communities of
optimization, control and decision [17].
Based on the above investigation and analysis, we would
64 hexagrams in
like to remark that the optimization algorithms so far are
often biologically or socially inspired [16]. To the best of our
), while the dotted line for soft (Yin,
knowledge, seldom has an effort been made to have the aid
of the philosophy of empiricism (e.g., I Ching philosophy) to
guide the designing of novel optimization algorithms.
Recently, base on binary string and I Ching divination, I
Ching divination evolutionary algorithm (IDEA) was
proposed in which the hexagrams in I Ching replaced the
chromosomes in GA, meanwhile intrication, turnover and
mutual operators in I Ching divination replaced crossover
and mutation of GA. Computational results demonstrated
that IDEA algorithm was effective for continuous
optimization [38, 39]. I Ching philosophy is so broad and
profound that it could be of a great treasure from which
novel optimization mechanisms can be stimulated.
Obviously, it is also a challenge to incarnate I Ching
philosophy to different optimization schemes other than
those the inventors originally proposed.
Enlightened by I Ching philosophy, particularly the
mechanism in the QIAN hexagram, aiming for continuous
optimization problems, we propose I Ching philosophy
inspired optimization, namely ICO. Characterized by
population-based, stochastic, iterative and empiricism
inspired features, the ICO evolves the population of solutions
by multiple searching operators derived from underlying
mechanism of the QIAN hexagram, as expected that the
balance between global exploration and local exploitation
can be well achieved. Specifically, in the proposed ICO, the
whole population is divided into four subpopulations, each of
which corresponds to one solid line (state in the QIAN
hexagram). Each of the four solid lines from the bottom up
corresponds to subpopulation called the bottom layer
solutions, the useful solutions, the satisfactory solutions, the
near-optimal solutions, respectively. And the fifth solid line
corresponds to the best solution at current generation, which
serves as an archive. And the top solid line in the QIAN
354
hexagram denotes the best solution achieved so far. Five
search operators, i.e., learning, emerging, controlling,
chasing and stabilizing are designed to perform the global
and local searches on subpopulations. The performances of
the proposed ICO are investigated on well-known testing
benchmarks and digital IIR filter designing problem which is
crucial in control field. Comparisons with several state-of-
the-art algorithms show the efficacy of the proposed ICO
algorithm.
The remaining contents are organized as follows. In
Section II, I Ching Philosophy and QIAN Hexagram are
briefly introduced. In Section III, the I Ching philosophy
inspired optimization (ICO) is proposed after illustrating the
relationship between the QIAN hexagram and optimization,
and ICO implementation details. In Section IV, experimental
results are presented and analyzed. Finally, in Section V, we
end this paper with conclusions and future works.
II. I CHING PHILOSOPHY AND QIAN HEXAGRAM
A. Brief introduction to I Ching philosophy
I Ching consists of hexagrams, by each of which natural
phenomenon or social behavior can be symbolized. A
hexagram is composed of six lines. Since each line can be
either solid or dotted, there could be 2 6
total in I Ching. The solid line stands for strong (Yang,
Chinese characters:
Chinese characters: ). The line of odd number from the
bottom up stands for the symbol of strong, while that of even
number for the symbol of soft [2]. Some selected Hexagrams
are depicted in Fig. 1. Regarding to the QIAN hexagram, the
first line from bottom is solid which stands for strong (Yang),
and line number is 1, odd number, which also corresponds to
Yang. In this regard, both the position and the type of the
initial line in the QIAN hexagram match, and this is labeled
as appropriateness in I Ching. Since a hexagram in I Ching
illustrates a social behavior or a natural phenomenon, the
three lines from the bottom up stand for the beginning stages
of the behavior (phenomenon) while the three lines from top
down correspond to the closing stages. Under this
circumstances, the second (fifth) line in each hexagram
locate in the middle of the beginning (closing) stages, and
named as moderateness in I Ching. As is shown in Fig. 1, all
lines in the JIJI hexagram is appropriate, since both the
position and the type of the initial line in the JIJI hexagram
match. Besides, the second (fifth) line represents moderate
and appropriate.
line number/correponds to line type/stands for
Top(6) Even number /Yin Solid line /Yang
Fifth(5) Odd number /Yang Solid line /Yang
Fourth(4) Even number /Yin Solid line /Yang
Solid line /Yang
Third(3) Odd number /Yang
Even number /Yin Solid line /Yang
Second(2)
Solid line /Yang
Initial(1) Odd number /Yang
QIAN (Chinese Characters:
)
 line number/correponds to line type/stands for hexagram is positive and upward, so the influence from the
Top(6) Even number /Yin Dotted line /Yin upper lines (stages) is more important than that from the
Fifth(5) Odd number /Yang Solid line /Yang
lower ones. Since everyone in the state of QIAN is working
Fourth(4) Dotted line /Yin
and chasing, individuals can either move forward step by
Even number /Yin
step or fall down/collapse quickly.
Third(3) Odd number /Yang Solid line /Yang

Second(2) Even number /Yin Dotted line /Yin
Initial(1) Odd number /Yang Solid line /Yang
JIJI/Harmony (Chinese Characters:  )
Fig. 1. The QIAN and JIJI hexagrams in I Ching
The core concepts lie in I Ching, including identification
from changing states, embracing vision, and optimal action
obeying the balance of moderateness and appropriateness [2].
1) Identification from the changing states
By grasping the historical and current information, one
can identify current condition by classification. Specifically,
one can identify the state (hexagram) where he is in as well
as his development stage (line position) of the state by I
Ching philosophy, e.g., one acts like the initial line of the
QIAN hexagram at the beginning stage of his way to success.
2) Embracing vision
By analyzing reasonably based on the future vision, long-
term success could be achieved. '7+
('#,#('
'


changed during the developing process, e.g., after one has
achieved some small targets, his condition transfers
according the mechanism in the QIAN hexagram (from the
initial line to the second line).
As show in Fig.2, the initial line (the bottom layer) stands
for the individuals of the population (group or team) who
have no experience to make contributions to the team they
belong to. Since they are most likely to be eliminated by the
group, they have to make lots of effort to become better. The
second line corresponds to the useful ones who have already
achieved small successes. In this stage, they are potential and
attract attention. The third line refers to the satisfactory ones
who become leaders of the group though not the best, who
want to control their destiny in order to avoid falling. The
fourth line refers to the near optimal ones who are leaders of
the group who want to chase their dream in order to become
the best/top one. The fifth line denotes the best one in the
group who needs to make the position stable. The top line
refers to the best one in the history.
Benefit from the Benefit from the
neighborhood above corresponding line
top global best solution
fifth generation best solution
fourth near-optimal solutions
third satisfactory solutions

3) Optimal action second useful solutions

Based on the identification from the environment and the initial bottom layer solutions
changing state, and driven by the future vision, optimal
action can be determined, which obeys the balance of
moderateness and appropriateness. The environment of a Fig. 2. Lines and solutions
stage (line) in I Ching can be described by relationships with
other lines within the same hexagram. There are two kinds of III. THE I CHING PHILOSOPHY INSPIRED OPTIMIZATION
relationships in I Ching, binate and nearby, as shown in
As observed from the above analysis, it can be seen that
Table I. The line in the beginning stage matches with the
behind I Ching philosophy lie the thinking and action models
similar one in the closing stage which named as the binate
of optimization, which could act as the driving force to
relationship. A group (line) can be strongly influenced by its
establish and develop new optimization scheme. In this
neighbors which called the nearby relationship.
section, enlightened by I Ching philosophy, particularly the
TABLE I. RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN LINES QIAN hexagram, we will present the I Ching philosophy
inspired optimization, labeled as ICO for continuous
line position Binate relationship with Nearby relationship with
optimization problems, which can be characterized by
top third fifth population-based, stochastic, iterative, and empiricism
fifth second fourth & top inspired features.
fourth initial third & fifth
third top second & forth A. QIAN hexagram and optimization
second fifth initial & third In our proposed ICO, to mimic the philosophy under
initial fourth second QIAN hexagram, we divide the whole population into four
Equipped with the core concepts above, I Ching subpopulations, each of which corresponds to one solid line
philosophy is so broad and profound that it could be of a (i.e., the state in QIAN hexagram). Then, the proposed ICO
great treasure not to divination but also to novel optimization evolves the four subpopulation of solutions by multiple
mechanisms designing. searching operators (e.g., learning, emerging, controlling,
B. The QIAN Hexagram chasing operations) and stabilizing operation for the fifth line,
which are derived from underlying mechanism of the QIAN
Among the whole 64 hexagrams in I Ching, is the QIAN hexagram.
hexagram which is ranked in the first place. The implication
behind the QIAN hexagram is the strong action and the As illustrated in Fig. 2, the initial line represents the
everlasting desire for success. The philosophy of the QIAN bottom layer solutions in current generation, whose

355
experiences and knowledge are too superficial to benefit the
population, and accordingly some less useful solutions
should be eliminated. Since they are most likely to be
eliminated, they have to make lots of effort to become better
1,
, 4 .
by the learning operator. The second line corresponds to the
useful solutions who have survived from the bottom layer
solutions. In this stage, these potential solutions perform the
emerging operations so as to attract more attention. The third
line refers to the satisfactory solutions of generation, and to
avoid fails controlling operation is exerted. The fourth line
symbolizes the near optimal solutions and chasing operator
is used. The fifth line is the best solution in the current
generation, and stabilizing operation is imposed so as not to
fail. The top line refers to the best solutions so far. Besides,
the relationships in I Ching, binate and nearby, as shown in
Table I, also have strong influences on searching and
optimization performances. For instance, solutions of the
three lines from the bottom up could benefit a lot from the
better ones in the top three lines. Meanwhile, the solutions of
the upper lines have the inclinations to improve themselves
by learning from the individuals belonging to the top lines,
which is illustrated in Fig. 2.
B. Implementation of ICO
1) Population partition
X i ( t )   1 * S i (t) (3)
In ICO, the initial population are generated randomly.
The i-th individual of dimension d at generation t is
represented as X i ( t )
[ x i ,1 , x i , 2 ,..., x i , d ] , i
1,
, P ( P is the length for the bottom layer solutions learning, S i (t) is the
size of the population). We divide the whole population into
four subpopulations (i.e., bottom layer solutions, useful
solutions, satisfactory solutions, and near-optimal solutions)
v ( t ) * 0 . 1 * ( lb  R . * ( ub  lb ))
according to the following rule.
Case 1: Partition of the initial population at the first
generation t
0 and the lower bounds of the searching space;
[ rand 1 , rand 2 ,..., rand d ] is a d-dimensional random
a) Initialize the proportions of each subpopulation in the
total population, that is the ratio of subpopulation size to the
overall size, e.g., p c ( t ) denotes the ratio of c-th
subpopulation size to the overall size at generation t where
c
1,
, 4 corresponding to the first four lines from the
bottom up. For the first generation t
0 , the p 1 ( 0 ) , p 2 ( 0 ) ,
p 3 ( 0 ) , and p 4 ( 0 ) are user specified;
X k ( t )   1 * S i (t) (5)
b) Compute the objective value f ( X i ) for each
individual X i ( t ) , and sort them by descending order for
minimization problem;
c) Partition the overall sorted population into four
subpopulation according to their ratios p c ( 0 ) , c
1,
, 4 . W i ( t )
X i ( t )  R1 . * ( X ( t )  X i (t))  R 2 . * ( X
Case 2: Partition of the evolved population after the first
generation t  0
a) Update the ratios according to the following equations:
p 1 ( t )
p 1 ( t  1 )  min( p 1 ( t  1 ) * t / 100 , p 1 ( t  1 ))
p c ( t )
(1  p 1 ( t )) * p c ( t  1 ) ( p 2 ( t  1 )  p 3 ( t  1 )  p 4 ( t  1 )) ,
2 ,3 , 4 . in the third line, perform the controlling operation as follows:
From Eq. (1), it can be seen that the ratio of bottom layer
X i ( t )  R1 . * ( X k ( t )  X i (t))  R 2 . * ( gbest ( t )  X i (t))
solutions is forced to be decreasing with the generation.
b) Compute the objective values, sort them by
descending order and partition the sorted population into four
subpopulation according to their updated ratios p c ( t ) ,
c
c) Reallocate the individuals between subpopulations. As
for the individual in satisfactory solutions (the third line) at
generation t, if it belonged to bottom layer solutions (the
initial line) at generation t-1, then move it to useful solutions
(the second line). As for the individual in near-optimal
solutions (the fourth line), if it belonged to useful solutions
(the second line), then move it to satisfactory solutions (the
third line); if it belonged to bottom layer solutions (the initial
line) at generation t-1, then move it to useful solutions (the
second line).
2) Operators
Four search operators, i.e., learning, emerging,
controlling, chasing are designed to perform the global and
local searches on subpopulations, and stabilizing operator is
proposed for refining the best solution at current generation.
a) Learning operator: As for the bottom layer solutions,
update X i ( t ) according to Eq. (3):
W i ( t )
where W i ( t ) is a trial solution for X i ( t ) ,  1 denotes the step
perturbation which is computed by Eq. (4):
S i ( t )
(4)
where v(t) is a discounted factor linearly decreasing from 1
to 0.01 with generations; ub and lb denote the upper bounds
R
weight vector, and each element rand j is uniformly
distributed in [0,1].
If the X i ( t ) is kept in the bottom layer subpopulation for
more than 3 consecutive generations, then the trial solution is
generated by Eq. (5):
W i (t)
where X k (t) is randomly chosen in near-optimal solutions.
b) Emerging operator: As for the useful solutions,
perform the emerging operation as follows:
( t )  X i (t))


k best
where X k ( t ) denotes the solution randomly chosen from the
satisfactory solutions subpopulation; X best ( t ) denotes the
best solution at generation t; R 1 and R 2 denote the d-
(1) dimensional random weight vectors.
c) Controlling operator: As for the satisfactory solutions
(2)
c
W i ( t )
(7)
356
where X k ( t ) denotes the solution randomly chosen from BEGIN
near-optimal solutions; gbest ( t ) denotes the best solution Population Initialization
achieved so far; R 1 and R 2 denote the d-dimensional Partition of the initial population at the first generation
random weight vectors. While (Termination Condition Is Not Satisfied) Do
Obtain trial solutions W i ( t ) by applying the five
d) Chasing operator: For the near-optimal solutions, searching operators (learning, emerging,
perform this operator according to Eq. (8): controlling, chasing, and stabilizing) to related
W i ( t )
X i ( t )  R1 . * ( X best ( t )  X i (t))   4 * S i ( t ) (8) subpopulations;

where  4 denotes the step length; S i ( t ) denotes the Compute the objective value f (W i ) ;
perturbation which is computed by Eq. (4).
e) Stabilizing operator: Stabilizing operation is imposed Update X i (t ) ;
to the best solution at current generation according to Eq. (9):
Partition of the evolved population
W i ( t )
X i ( t )   5 * S i (t) (9)
End
where  5 denotes the step length, and S i ( t ) denotes the Output the best one.
perturbation which is computed by Eq. (4). END
Fig. 3. the general framework of algorithm
If the X i ( t ) is kept as the best solution for more than 3
consecutive generations, then the trial solution is generated To demonstrate the effectiveness and the efficiency of
by Eq. (10): the proposed algorithm, we compare the ICO with several
state-of-the-art optimization algorithms such as Particle
W i ( t )
X i ( t )  R . * ( mean ( t )  X i ( t ) ) (10) Swarm Optimization (PSO) [42], Teaching Learning Based
where mean(t) denotes the average value of solutions at Optimization (TLBO) [43] and Water Wave Optimization
generation t. (WWO) [44]. The parameter settings for the above
algorithms are as follows:
3) Updating criteria
For individuals belong to satisfactory solutions and near- ICO: p 1 ( 0 )
0 . 4 , p 2 ( 0 )
0 . 4 , p 3 ( 0 )
0 . 1 , p 4 ( 0 )
0 .1 ,
optimal solutions, greedy scheme is used: ,  4
1 ,  5
0 . 5 , and the population size is 20;
1
2

PSO: the velocity range is [  3 , 3 ] ,  linearly decreases

W i ( t ) , if F (W i ( t )) F ( X i ( t )),














X i ( t  1)











from 0.9 to 0.2 with the generation, c1
c 2
2 , and the
 X i ( t ), otherwise .
population size is 20;
For individuals belong to other subpopulations, TLBO: the population size is 20;
WWO: h max
12 , 
1 . 026 , linearly decreases from






































X i ( t  1 )
W i (t)



























0.25 to 0.001, and the population size is 20.

C. Overall framework of ICO The experimental environment is Intel Core i5 5200U

From above detailed implementation of ICO, it can be
seen that ICO is characterized by population-based,
stochastic, iterative, and empiricism inspired features, which
evolves the population of solutions by multiple searching
operators, such as learning, emerging, controlling, chasing
and stabilizing operations. It is expected that the balance
between global exploration and local exploitation can be well
achieved. The overall framework of ICO is illustrated in Fig.
3.
IV. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
A. Experimental setup
We investigate the searching performances of the ICO
based on five well-known benchmark problems from [40] as
well as two digital IIR filter design problems [41]. As for the
IIR filter design, the input to the system is all white Gaussian
noise with zero means and unit variance, and the data length
is 1000. All of the test examples are listed in the appendix.
with 8GB memory. The IIR filter design problems is with the
searching range of [-3,3]. The maximum number of
evaluation is set to be 2000 and independent running times to
be 50 for all algorithms.
B. Simulation results and comparisons
The statistical results achieved by ICO, TLBO, WWO,
PSO and GA [40] algorithms for the benchmark cases are
listed in Table III. It can be seen that the results of ICO are
much closer to the theoretical optima of the continuous
functions, and ICO is superior to TLBO, WWO, PSO, and
GA in terms of searching quality and derivation of the results.
So it is concluded that ICO is more effective and more robust
on initial conditions for these benchmark problems. The
statistical indexes achieved by ICO, TLBO, WWO and PSO
for the IIR filter design problems are listed in Table II, it can
be seen that for IIR filter design problems example 1 and
example 2, ICO is superior to other algorithms in all the all
statistical indexes and problems investigated in this study. In
this regard, the ICO algorithm could be a vital optimization
algorithm.

357
 The searching curves for IIR filter design problem Comparisons with several state-of-the-art algorithms
example 1 are illustrated in Fig. 4, from which it could be demonstrated the efficacy of the proposed ICO algorithm. In
observed that ICO has a faster trend to global optima than the future work, we will refine the ICO algorithm and extend
PSO, TLBO and WWO. its application field.

TABLE II. RESULTS AND

COMPARISONS FOR IIR FILTERS

Problem Index ICO TLBO WWO PSO

IIR Min 0.16 0.67 1.41 1.64

Exp. 1 Max 2.01 2.92 121.02 9.53

Mean 0.78 1.61 15.1 5.20

Std 0.52 0.75 37.2 3.05

IIR Min 0.33 0.77 4.69 2.23

Exp. 2 Max 0.48 1.92 394.63 135.17

Fig. 4. The convergence curves of example 1
Mean 0.39 1.24 88.02 30.63
V. CONCLUSIONS 0.06 0.44 171.47 171.47
Std
Grasping the fact that I Ching philosophy could act as the
driving force to establish and develop new optimization
scheme, we proposed I Ching philosophy inspired ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
optimization, labeled as ICO for continuous optimization
problems. Characterized by population-based, stochastic, The authors would like to thank the anonymous referees
iterative, and empiricism inspired features, the ICO evolves for their constructive comments on the earlier manuscript of
the population of solutions by multiple searching operators this paper. The last author BL is very grateful to Prof. Yew-
derived from underlying mechanism of the QIAN hexagram, Soon Ong (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore),
as validated that the balance between global exploration and Prof. Yihui Jin, Prof. Ling Wang (Tsinghua University), Prof.
local exploitation can be well achieved. The performances of JiKun Huang (Peking University), Prof. Shouyang Wang
the proposed ICO were investigated on well-known testing (Chinese Academy of Sciences) and Royal Honored Prof.
benchmarks and digital IIR filter designing problem. M.A. Keyzer (SOW-VU, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The
Netherlands) for their support.

TABLE III. RESULTS AND COMPARISONS FOR FUNCTION OPTIMIZATION

Problem ICO TLBO WWO PSO [40] GA [40]

fGP 3.0000  4.6922e-6 3.0000  1.0248e-8 3.0008  0.0008 4.6202  11.4554 3.1471  0.9860

fBR 0.3979  1.5569e-6 0.3997  0.0018 0.3984  0.0005 0.4960  0.3703 0.4021  0.0153

fH3 -3.8628  3.4218e-6 -3.8601  0.0027 -3.8621  0.0007 -3.8572  0.0035 -3.8571  0.0070

fH6 -3.2581  0.0643 -3.1597  0.1224 -3.2005  0.1062 -2.8943  0.3995 -3.0212  0.4291

fSH -186.7283  0.0026 -184.7165  2.0143 -185.1955  1.5311 -180.3265  10.1718 -182.1840  5.3599

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359
 VI. APPENDIX
GP: Goldstein-Price: (d=2)
2 2 2
f G ( x )
[1  ( x 1  x 2  1 ) ( 19  14 x 1  3 x 1  14 x 2  6 x 1 x 2  3 x 2 )]
2 2 2
 [30  (2 x 1 - 3 x 2 ) (18 - 32 x 1  12 x 1  48 x 2 - 36 x 1 x 2  27 x 2 )],

- 2  x i  1, i
1, 2

The global minimum is equal to 3 and the point is (0,-1).

BR: Branin: (d=2)

5 .1 2 5 2 1
fB (x)
(x2  x1  x1  6 )  10 ( 1  ) cos x 1  10 ,
4
2
 8

 5  x 1  10 , 0  x 2  15

The global optima is approximately 0.398 and it is

reached at (3.142,2.275) and (9.425,2.425)
Hd: Hartman (d=3, 6)

4 d

 a
2
fH (x)
 c i exp[  (x  p ij ) ]


ij j
i
1 j
1

0  x i  1 , i
1,2,..., d

For d=3 the global minimum is -3.86 and it is reached

at the point (0.114,0.556,0.852). For d=6 the minimum is -
3.32 at the point (0.201,0.150,0.477,0.275,0.311,0.657).
SH: Shaber (d=2)

5 5

fS (x)
{
 i cos( i  1 ) x 1  i }{
 i cos( i  1 ) x 2  i}


i
1 i
1

 10  x i  10

The function has 760 local optima, 18 of which are

global with minimum -186.7309.
Example 1:

2 4 6
1  0 .4 z  0 . 65 z  0 . 26 z
H d [z
1
]

2 4 6


1  0 . 77 z  0 . 8498 z  0 . 6486 z

1 2 3 4 5
b 0  b1 z  b2 z  b3 z  b4 z  b5 z
H [z
1
]

1 2 3 4 5


1  a1 z  a2z  a3z  a4z  a5z

Example 2:

2 4 5 6
1  1 .8 z  1 . 04 z  0 . 05 z  0 . 192 z
H d [z
1
]

2 4 6


1  0 .8 z  0 . 17 z  0 . 56 z

1 2 3 4 5
b 0  b1 z  b2 z  b3 z  b4 z  b5 z
H [z
1
]

1 2 3 4 5


1  a1 z  a2z  a3z  a4z  a5z

360

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