Int. j. inf. tecnol.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s41870-020-00421-z
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Optimization of complex nonlinear systems using genetic
algorithm
Chhavi Mangla1 • Musheer Ahmad1 • Moin Uddin2
Received: 7 February 2019 / Accepted: 10 January 2020
 Bharati Vidyapeeth’s Institute of Computer Applications and Management 2020
Abstract A simple solution of simultaneous non-linear
equations is one of the most important tasks in the analysis
of the systems used in different domains of engineering,
social sciences, and medical sciences. Though there are
many conventional methods to solve these equations, these
methods have high time, cost, and space complexity. In this
work, Genetic Algorithm based technique is used to solve
both single and multi-objective optimization problems by
using standard benchmark problems. The soundness of the
work is argued by comparing the results with other meth-
ods. The research also opens the door for the application of
Genetic Algorithm in getting cost-effective solutions for
complex mathematical equations.
Keywords Genetic algorithm  Multi-objective
optimization  Nonlinear equations  Soft computing
techniques
& Chhavi Mangla
cmangla89@gmail.com
Musheer Ahmad
mahmad@jmi.ac.in
Moin Uddin
prof_moin@yahoo.com
1
Department of Applied Sciences and Humanities, Jamia
Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India
2
School of Engineering and Technology, Apeejay Stya
University, Gurugram, Haryana, India
1 Introduction
A simple solution of the complex systems has eluded the
scientific fraternity from time immemorial. Though
humans have advanced the techniques and methodologies
for solving complex equations, the advancement in the
technology has bought many new challenges to find better
solutions. The present set of problems require these equa-
tions to be solved in limited time and space complexities so
that they can be used in various applications.
The conventional methods of equation solving can be
classified as recursive and iterative. If a function calls an
instance of itself, it is termed as recursive. In a method,
which uses the recursive procedure, an initial value is
seeded in the requisite procedure, and eventually, a better
solution is obtained [1, 2]. Iterative methods, on the other
hand, depict a technique which uses successive approxi-
mation to obtain more accurate solutions through an initial
guess [1, 3]. The Recursive methods include, Secant
method, Newton Raphson method, Regula Falsi method,
Bisection method etc. [3]. The convergence of all these
methods depends on the initial assumptions. It may be
noted that, if the guess chosen is sufficiently close to the
exact solution, the time of finding the distinctive solution
greatly reduces. The second classification viz. iterative
includes methods like Gauss elimination, Gauss Jacobi
method, Jacobi’s Iteration method,GaussSeidal Iteration
method etc. [3].
The present work applies Genetic Algorithm (GA),
which is an Evolutionary Algorithm (EA) to solve the
above problem. There was a need, therefore, to explore and
analyze all the existing evidence, for which a comprehen-
sive literature review was accomplished, as per the proto-
cols are given by Kitchenham [4].
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GA relies on the mechanism of natural selection [5–8].
The algorithm was developed by John Holland [5, 6]. GA
is a heuristic search algorithm which works by encoding a
potential solution. It helps in finding solutions even for a
multi-dimensional search space [5]. GA also proves to be a
very good tool in handling the problems involving large
number of parameters. Hence, its extensive analysis and
suitability to terminate with better approximate solutions
have helped in its successful applications in many areas
including real-world problems [9–11]. The areas where GA
has been successfully applied are artificial creativity,
computer architecture, multimodal optimization, robotics,
scheduling, etc. [7, 9, 10]. It has also been successfully
applied in aircraft wing design problems, financial time
series analysis, portfolio management and many more. This
technique is now also being used in many applications
including solution of NP problems [5, 7]. The solution of
non-linear equations also comes under this preview.
The organization of the paper is as follows. Section 2 of
this paper presents the literature review. Section 3 covers
the background. Section 4 includes the proposed model.
The next section reports the results of the experiments
carried out, and the last section concludes.
2 Literature review
A systematic literature review is essential to find all the
evidence concerning various aspects of research issues [4].
In this work, the review was essential to find how GA has
been applied for equation solving and to find the gaps in the
existing methods. The review has been carried out to
• Summarize methods applying GA to equation solving
• Find the gaps in the existing methods
• Appropriately position GA in the present context
The detailed literature review carried out considered pri-
mary studies and a few secondary studies as well [4]. It
may be stated here that the procedure stated by Kitchenham
[4] was followed to make the results of the review free
from any bias and to understand the application of the
method (in this case, the GA) across a wide range of set-
tings. Moreover, the methodology of the review has been
stated to make the process repeatable.
The study shows that GA being stochastic approach is
more popular than the deterministic. The reason behind is
that stochastic approaches can easily deal with problems
having huge search space. They does not require any priori
mathematical analysis to handle a problem. And advance-
ment in computational technology contribute in high
probability for stochastic approaches to find the optimal
solution in a short period of time.
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Int. j. inf. tecnol.
There have been notable development in its application
to solve nonlinear system of equations by improving the
traditional Genetic algorithm by well conditioning of sys-
tem of nonlinear equations using calculus based variant
gradient descent method [11], in Cycle Gas Turbine sim-
ulation by arranging the equations by fixed point method
[12], parameters estimation by multi-crossover real coded
genetic algorithm [13], line search sequential quadratic
programming [14], multi-objective optimization using
Genetic algorithm for several benchmark problems [15],
analytical existence of solution based on Matrix inversion
principle with Schur complement for road safety measure
[16].
The performance of genetic algorithm is also concerned
with the structure of the algorithm. To strengthen the
searching efficiency of GA, numerous researchers have
attempted to enhance the basic structure of GA by inte-
grating particle swarm optimization [17], symmetric and
harmonious individuals [18], augmented langrangian
function [19], stochastic design solver based on variants of
GA [20], global and tabu search [21], set based genetic
algorithm [22].
3 Genetic algorithm
Over few decades, the use of GA has developed into a
vigorous problem solving and optimization technique in
diverse range of fields. GA is based on the biological
process of the natural selection. GA is a heuristic technique
which works on encoding potential solution [5, 6, 8].
GA relies on the notion of survival of the fittest, which
associate genetic operations derived from nature. GA is
initialized by a set of possible solution, where each indi-
vidual is represented by a chromosome. Chromosomes
consist of the smallest biological unit called genes. Each
chromosome constitutes number of small units known as
cells. There are many approaches to translate the members
of solution space into chromosomes. One of the approaches
is to first tranforming each individual into a bit string, then
end-to-end integrating the parameters of bit string as genes
in a DNA strand to form a chromosome as shown in Fig. 1.
Each chromosome represents a solution in the solution
space, which may not be optimal initially. To obtain an
optimal solution, genetic operators are applied on the initial
set of solution space. Since the process is inspired by
biological genetics, the reproduction functions used to
Fig. 1 A chromosome
Int. j. inf. tecnol.
guide generation of further population. Application of
genetic operators results in variations in the individuals in
the solution space which results in a range of reproductive
fitness. These are further transformed into fitter individuals
having better genetic representation in the future genera-
tion and thus, arriving at an optimal solution by a contin-
uous application of crossover, mutation and selection
operators.
3.1 Mechanism of GA
The mechanism of GA has been depicted in the following
flow chart (Fig. 2):
• Create initial population: GA begins with randomly
chosen assortment of chromosomes, which serve as
initial population.
• Evaluate fitness value of each chromosome: Each
chromosome in the initial population is evaluated by
the fitness function.
• Apply selection, crossover, and mutation operator on
fitter individual to generate new population: Genetic
operators are applied on fitter individual from the
population to maintain diversity in the population
which consist of fitter individuals.
• Again, calculate fitness value: Fitness value is evalu-
ated for testing the achievement of optimization.
• Repeat the process until termination criteria met: The
process continued until the optimization goal is
achieved.
3.2 Operators in GA
The operations used in Genetic Algorithm have been
described as follows:
Crossover The Crossover operator is similar to biolog-
ical crossing over. In this operation, a couple of
Fig. 2 Flow chart of Genetic
Algorithm
Fig. 3 One-point crossover
Fig. 4 Mutation
chromosomes, based on best fitness value, are chosen from
initial population in order to create new generation. The
operator swaps a subsequence of the chosen chromosomes
to create new offspring by choosing a crossover point (Pc)
at random (Fig. 3). Newly generated chromosomes are
again checked for fitness and then, included in the popu-
lation. Numerous type of crossover like one-point, two-
point crossover etc. are available and are used on the basis
of encoding of the chromosome.
Mutation The mutation operator introduces random
changes in the chromosomes by flipping individual bits
(turning 1 into 0 and vice versa) (Fig. 4). Mutation helps
the algorithm to break the local maxima trap which is very
important for algorithm to achieve the optimization goal. It
helps in maintaining diversity in the population and may
produce chromosome having varied range of fitness value
in comparison to the current generation.
Selection The selection operator chooses chromosomes
from the population created by crossover and mutation
process, for reproduction based on the probability distri-
bution defined in the algorithm. The selection process can
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 Int. j. inf. tecnol.

be done with the help of many methods like roulette wheel Table 1 Comparing values of fitness functions based on a multi-
selection, tournament selection etc. Out of which, Roulette objective optimization problem comprising two functions f1 and f2
wheel section method is commonly used as it increases the Cases f1 f2 Fitness function
probability of fittest chromosome being chosen and hence
jf1 þ f2 j jf1 j þ jf2 j
better fitter generation is created for arriving at an optimal
solution. I 9.34 - 8.5 0.84 17.84
The present work proposes a model to find the solution II 2.34 - 1.5 0.84 3.84
of non-linear equations, which has been one of the most III - 2.34 1.5 0.84 3.84
precarious tasks for both computing and mathematics fra- IV - 2.34 - 1.5 3.84 3.84
ternity. The solution of many problems, directly or indi- V 2.34 1.5 3.84 3.84
rectly, depends on the correct root of an equation. Finding VI 0.34 - 0.5 0.84 0.84
root is a search process; wherein the search of the root is to VII -1 1 0 2
be conducted from a huge search space. The search process
becomes easy if ‘fitness’ is associated with all the candi-
date solutions. To accomplish this task, many conventional
methods are available.The next section presents the pro- optimal value. The aim of the work is to search for those
posed model and methodology adopted to justify the values which help in optimizing each function fi simulta-
applicability of Genetic Algorithm in equation solving. neously rather than, merely focusing on the overall value of
fitness function. To understand the argument, let us con-
sider the following example. In the following Table 1, the
4 Proposed model values of two functions f1 and f2 at various points have
been given.
A system of non linear equation may be defined as: It may be noted that out of the sum of absolute ðjf1 j þ
9
f1 ðxÞ ¼ 0 > jf2 jÞ and the absolute of sum ðjf1 þ f2 jÞ, the former is more
>
>
> suitable. In the above example, we can observe that the
f2 ðxÞ ¼ 0 >
>
=
absolute of sum ðjf1 þ f2 jÞ is giving lower or same value,
.. > ð1Þ
than the sum of absolute ðjf1 j þ jf2 jÞ. As per case IV and V,
.>>
>
>
> the sum of absolute and the absolute of sum of functions
;
fn ðxÞ ¼ 0 gave same value when, both f1 and f2 are, either positive or
negative. Now, if we study case I and VII, we observe that
where fi , is a linear or a non-linear function, can be con-
the two functions are achieving extreme values, which are
sidered as mapping a vector x ¼ ðx1 ; x2 ; . . .; xn Þt of the n- nowhere close to zero. Thus, although the absolute of sum
dimensional space Rn to real line [1]. The solution of the is lower but optimality of individual functions is lost. In
above set of equations is a set of values of variables xi , such subsequent cases, it may be noted that the sum of absolute
that the values of each of the above functions fi at those is coming out to be lowest in case VI and, in addition by
points are zero. observation, we can clearly analyze that each function is
being optimized in case VI only, as both functions fi are
4.1 Fitness function comparatively very close to zero than in other cases. The
difference between two approaches is much clearer, when
The most important ingredient of GA is the fitness func- two functions achieve values in opposite signs. Thus, this is
tion. In the earlier works [15, 19], the fitness function was the justification of using sum of absolute, that is, jf1 j þ jf2 j
taken as jf1 þ f2 þ f3 þ    þ fn j, however, in the present over absolute of sum as fitness function in our work.
work, the fitness function has been changed to
jf1 j þ jf2 j þ    þ jfn j. We claim that by choosing the sum 4.2 Methodology
of absolutes of the objective functions jf1 j þ jf2 j þ    þ
jfn j over the previous techniques [15, 19], which used the The given set of equations is, first, encoded. This is because
absolutes of sum the of the objective functions GA works on the coded version (genotypes) and not on the
jf1 þ f2 þ f3 þ    þ fn j, the solution would improve. The original set (phenotypes). The method employees double
reason is that we are considering the problem as multi- vector coding to encode the given set of equations. It may
objective optimization problem Eq. 1 in which, each be stated here that this has been done after experimenting
objective function fi is to be optimized systematically. The with various coding techniques. This is followed by setting
earlier approaches helped in attaining lower fitness func- the parameters of Genetic Algorithm. The scaling function,
tion value even if, the individual functions fi do not achieve

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Table 2 Multi-dimensional problems in single function (adapted from Dao [24])

No. Function name Dimension Equation Range Global minimum
Pn
1 Rastrigin n f ðxÞ ¼ 2
i¼1 ½xi  10cosð2pxi Þ þ 10 ð5; 5Þn 0.00
Pn1
2 Rosenberg n f ðxÞ ¼ i¼1 ½100ðxiþ1  x2i Þ2 þ ðxi  1Þ2  ð5; 10Þn 0.00

Table 3 Selected parameters of the proposed GA for multi-dimensional problems with single function
Parameters Population size Scaling function Selection function Mutation function Crossover function Generations Ratios/fractions

Values 60 Rank Roulette wheel Gaussain Single point 10,000 Default

Table 4 Performance comparison in solving multi-dimensional problems with single function

No. Test Dim. Fitness SDA BFA HSDBC-R HSDBC-S Traditional GA Improved GA Proposed
function value [23] [23] [23] [23] [24] [24] GA

f1 Rosenberg 15 Best 6.99 21.57 8.00 6.32 15215.50 3.20 0.0555291

Mean 293.25 28.38 49.98 49.05 86099.49 37.69 0.0556342
f2 Rastrigin 15 Best 22.06 42.49 22.03 14.92 63.49 0.05 0.000000848
Mean 56.23 71.77 44.53 49.85 106.96 0.25 0.000006323
f3 Rastrigin 20 Best NA NA NA NA NA NA 0.000002268
Mean NA NA NA NA NA NA 0.000010436
f4 Rastrigin 30 Best 109.70 191.07 71.36 77.61 225.55 1.72 0.000006786
Mean 177.34 227.90 141.40 145.10 283.93 3.77 0.000018369
f5 Rastrigin 45 Best 184.57 365.21 194.32 167.15 402.04 14.29 0.994970
Mean 326.58 399.56 281.45 261.94 512.26 25.44 0.994987
f6 Rastrigin 60 Best 373.39 507.56 277.78 307.44 629.36 44.87 0.000043783
Mean 465.16 583.97 420.65 395.46 729.12 58.73 0.000075173
Bold values are the best values achieved Dim Dimension, NA not available

mutation function and other parameters are set. In this
work, the rank scaling function has been used due to its
better performance while carrying out empirical analysis.
The experiment are carried out for Roulette wheel due to
its robustness property. The Gaussian technique is selected
for carrying out the mutation, as the results using this
technique are far superior as compared to other techniques.
The ratios/fractions take the default values.
in two subsections. In the first subsection, multi-dimen-
sional test problems in single function are considered and
in the second subsection, three multi-dimensional bench-
mark problems viz. Interval Arithmetic application, Com-
bustion problem, Neurophysiology application are
discussed. The experiments are conducted in MATLAB
code on i3 machine with 6 GB RAM.
5.1 Multi-dimensional problems in single function

5 Results and discussion Two multi-dimensional problems in single function, are

To validate the proposed approach, nonlinear system of
equations has been taken into consideration. These test
problems are general problems, studied by various
researchers, commonly known as benchmark problems.
The simulation results for these problems are demonstrated
considered as case study problems, and are shown in
Table 2. The selected parameters for solving these prob-
lems by the proposed algorithm are shown in Table 3. The
selection of parameters is based on the discussion made in
the previous section. Here, population size is taken by
empirical analysis. For evaluation, the dimension is varied,

123

Table 5 Minimum values of tournament and Roulette wheel selec-
tion function with population size 200
No. of generations Selection
Tournament Roulette wheel
200
G 0.02590 0.007036
U 0.7530 0.7517
150
G 0.01660 0.00669
U 0.7522 0.7561
100
G 0.01474 0.00799
U 0.7517 0.7537
51
G 0.01430 0.00201
U 0.7522 0.7532
50
G 0.01613 0.01203
U 0.7818 0.7836
G Gaussian function, U uniform function
ranging from 15 to 60, and then the proposed algorithm has
been applied to solve these case study problems for each
dimension. The algorithm is given 30 runs for each case.
The results are presented in terms of the best fitness value
and average fitness value (viz. Best and Mean, respec-
tively). To evaluate the robustness of the work, the results
by the proposed algorithm, and solutions obtained by six
other optimization algorithms, namely, Bacterial Foraging
Fig. 5 Convergence history for function f1
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Int. j. inf. tecnol.
Algorithm (BFA) [23], Spiral Dynamic Algorithm (SDA)
[23], Hybrid Spiral Dynamic Bacteria Chemotaxis Algo-
rithm Type-R (HSDBC-R) [23], Hybrid Spiral Dynamic
Bacteria Chemotaxis Algorithm Type-S (HSDBC-S) [23],
Traditional GA [24] and Improved GA by Dao et al. [24],
are shown in Table 4.
From Table 5, we can make observation that the pro-
posed GA is able to get the optimal solutions which is too
close to the global optimal. For second function, the opti-
mal fitness value is improved by 107 . Even for third
function, the proposed algorithm is giving better results by
105 . Similary, in rest of the cases also we can see that the
optimal fitness value is better than all other optmization
algorithms. Thus, we can clearly say that, the proposed GA
outperforms, BFA, SDA, HSDBC-S, HSDBC-R [23],
Traditional GA as well as Improved GA [24] while opti-
mizing multi-dimensional problems with single function.
Along with, the convergence history of each function is
presented in Figs.5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. The information
related to number of generations given by x involved in
convergence of each function and mean fitness given by
y has also been shown in figures.
5.2 Multi-dimensional benchmark problem
with several functions
With this sub-section, the applicability of GA in handling
multi-dimensional problems with several functions has
been explored by considering benchmark problems. How-
ever, GA has been already applied to optimize some linear
Int. j. inf. tecnol.
Fig. 6 Convergence history for function f2
Fig. 7 Convergence history for function f3
and nonlinear systems with two functions in our earlier
works [25, 26].
Here, the methodolgy as discussed in previous section,
is implemented, and the verification is done by taking
standard problems [15, 19, 27–30]. The experiment is then
repeated 30 times. The results obtained by the proposed
work is compared with earlier results proposed by Gravi-
tational search algorithm (GRAV) [31], Intelligent tuned
harmony search algorithm (ITHS) [32], Evolutionary
algorithm (EA) [15], Cuckoo optmization algorihtm (COA)
[33].
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Fig. 8 Convergence history for function f4

9
5.2.1 Case study f1 ðxÞ ¼ x1  0:25428722  0:18324757x4 x3 x9 >>
>
>
>
Firstly, the following set of case study problem expressed f2 ðxÞ ¼ x2  0:37842197  0:16275449x1 x10 x6 >
>
>
>
>
>
by Eq. 2 is used to carry out the experiment and establish f3 ðxÞ ¼ x3  0:27162577  0:16955071x1 x2 x10 >
>
>
>
the premise that the Roulette wheel selection and Gaussian >
>
f4 ðxÞ ¼ x4  0:19807914  0:15585316x7 x1 x6 >>
>
>
mutation function perform better than the others. The >
>
>
results obtained have been depicted in Table 5. And then, f5 ðxÞ ¼ x5  0:44166728  0:19950920x7 x6 x3 =
three standard problems have been solved in Sects. 5.2.2– ð3Þ
f6 ðxÞ ¼ x6  0:14654113  0:18922793x8 x5 x10 >
>
>
5.2.4 >
>
) >
>
f7 ðxÞ ¼ x7  0:42937161  0:21180486x2 x5 x8 >>
x2  y2 ¼ 0 >
>
>
ð2Þ f8 ðxÞ ¼ x8  0:07056438  0:17081208x1 x7 x6 >>
>
1  jx  yj ¼ 0 >
>
>
f9 ðxÞ ¼ x9  0:34504906  0:19612740x10 x6 x8 >
>
>
>
Afterwards, Gaussian function for mutation and Roul- >
>
ette wheel selection function has been used for the f10 ðxÞ ¼ x10  0:42651102  0:21466544x4 x8 x1 ;
benchmark problems.
The above problem (Eq. 3) has been considered as a multi-
objective optimization problem (Eq. 4) as
5.2.2 Interval arithmetic application
minfi ðxÞ ¼ 0 ð4Þ
This test problem is proposed from arithmetic
where 2  xi  2 8i ¼ 1; 2; . . .; 10 and
[15, 19, 27–29]. This problem consists of following a set of
x ¼ ðx1 ; x2 ; x3 ; x4 ; x5 ; x6 ; x7 ; x8 ; x9 ; x10 Þ.
complex system of nonlinear equations having ten
The parameters used by the proposed methodology are
variables:
listed in Table 6 and then, experiment is performed 30
times. The best solution obtained as well as the best

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Int. j. inf. tecnol.
Fig. 9 Convergence history for function f5
Fig. 10 Convergence history for function f6
function values are presented in Table 7. The table also
contains various statistical results showing the minimum
value of the fitness function (fbest ) alongwith standard
deviation, computation time in seconds and, number of
function evaluations (feval ).
In Table 7, we present the optimal results by the pro-
posed method and other algorithms. And, the graphical
comparison for best fitness values is presented in Fig. 11.
On comparison, we can conclude that the present technique
obtains the best simulation results in terms of objective
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Table 6 Selected parameters of the proposed GA for multi-dimensional problems with several functions
Parameters Population size Scaling function Selection function Mutation function Crossover function Generations Ratios/fractions

Values 500 Rank Roulette wheel Gaussain Single point 1000 Default

Table 7 Results obtained for interval arithmetic application

ITHS [32] GRAV [31] EA [15] COA [33] Present technique

x1 0.254686410312621 0.257839946926554 0.1224819761 0.2482000000 0.257956064323587

x2 0.378523004753339 0.381079261668136 0.1826200685 0.3869000000 0.38109916212226
x3 0.276525468374490 0.278737809172705 0.2356779803 0.2772000000 0.27874480661091
x4 0.201804033260634 0.200676775829179 - 0.0371150470 0.1908000000 0.20066744249867
x5 0.443869219215441 0.445251560409610 0.3748181856 0.4453000000 0.445253922401114
x6 0.147985685015705 0.149185582343140 0.2213311341 0.1487000000 0.149189414930028
x7 0.432376554488803 0.432006811493179 0.0697813035 0.4266000000 0.432100597285124
x8 0.069871690818600 0.073403712784558 0.0768058043 0.0647000000 0.0734034792966434
x9 0.349297348759015 0.345965056291278 - 0.0312153867 0.3467000000 0.345974862080271
x10 0.432318039408281 0.427333090362260 0.1452667120 0.4119000000 0.427332430372825
f1 - 0.003172703109397 0.065250354895E-4 0.1318552790 - 0.0094474086 1.2261783513230E-04
f2 - 0.002550893777805 - 0.180334006456E-4 0.1964428361 0.0060038145 5.9760299522208E-07
f3 - 0.002166747254159 - 0.071683799276E-4 0.0364987069 - 0.0011322079 - 3.7379951121690E-06
f4 0.001185071568625 0.077342307299E-4 0.2354890155 - 0.0097329967 - 3.3945363816061E-06
f5 - 0.001328103066942 0.002122703812E-4 0.0675753064 0.0001244906 1.6140933746413E-06
f6 - 0.001092587590357 0.015857612497E-4 0.0739986588 - 0.0000867383 5.4168165550395E-06
f7 0.000518467284375 - 0.027980350751E-4 0.3607038292 - 0.0051325862 9.0844393816914E-05
f8 - 0.003476285138268 0.008502088621E-4 0.0059182979 - 0.0085537600 - 1.3510431960709E-06
f9 0.003371565377805 - 0.018071372921E-4 0.3767487763 0.0008737175 7.9794102871002E-06
f10 0.005036117718070 0.067515256242E-4 0.2811693568 - 0.0152687483 5.7648913887593E-06
fbest 0.023898542 5.35E-05 1.766400063 0.056356469 4.0250700993674E-05
Std NA NA NA NA 2.0676316604310E-20
Time NA NA 39.07 NA 72.623
feval NA NA NA NA 181500

9
function values, fitness function as well as standard f1 ðxÞ ¼ x2 þ 2x6 þ x9 þ 2x10  105 >
>
>
deviation. >
>
5 >
>
f2 ðxÞ ¼ x3 þ x8  3:10 >
>
>
>
5 >
5.2.3 Combustion problem f3 ðxÞ ¼ x1 þ x3 þ 2x5 þ 2x8 þ x9 þ x10  5:10 > >
>
>
>
>
5 >
>
In this test problem, a complex nonlinear algebraic system f4 ðxÞ ¼ x4 þ 2x7  10 >
>
>
>
governing combustion problem at temperature 3000  C >
>
7
f5 ðxÞ ¼ x1 x2  ð0:5140437Þ10 x5 =
[15, 19, 27, 30] has been taken under consideration. The ð5Þ
equations are as follows: f6 ðxÞ ¼ 2x22  ð0:1006932Þ106 x6 >
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
f7 ðxÞ ¼ x24  ð0:7816278Þ1015 x7 >
>
>
>
>
>
f8 ðxÞ ¼ x1 x3  ð0:1496236Þ106 x8 >
>
>
>
>
>
>
f9 ðxÞ ¼ x1 x2  ð0:6194411Þ107 x9 >
>
>
>
>
;
f10 ðxÞ ¼ x1 x22  ð0:2089296Þ1014 x10

where, 20  xi  20, 8i ¼ 1; 2; . . .; 10.

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Fig. 12 Fitness value comparison for combustion problem

Fig. 11 Fitness value comparison for arithmetic application
Now, changing the above system (Eq. 5) as multi-ob-
jective optimization problem (Eq. 6) with fitness functions
as z ¼ jf1 j þ jf2 j þ jf3 j þ jf4 j þ jf5 j þ jf6 j þ jf7 j þ jf8 j þ
jf9 j þ jf10 j where x ¼ ðx1 ; x2 ; x3 ; x4 ; x5 ; x6 ; x7 ; x8 ; x9 ; x10 Þ
and fi ¼ fi ðxÞ 8i ¼ 1; 2; . . .; 10 with
minfi ðxÞ ¼ 0 ð6Þ
The best values obtained by the present approach have
been compared with four other algorithms, namely GRAV
[31], ITHS [32], EA [15] and, COA [33] as shown in
Table 8. The results show that the proposed GA gave most
optimal results in terms of best fitness, standard deviation.
During simulation, 335,000 number of function evaluations
took place to reach the optimal values. Also, the graphical
comparison is made for best fitness values with the help of
Fig. 12.

Table 8 Results obtained for combustion problem

ITHS [32] GRAV [31] EA [15] COA [33] Present technique

x1 0.007245878409306 - 0.00129788338220 - 0.0552429896 NA 0.000126477687315

x2 0.010180176931163 0.009181144808811 - 0.0023377533 NA 0.016823393665353
x3 - 0.00290517379654 0.351976543447875 0.0455880930 NA - 0.788357917960779
x4 - 0.00232291581807 0.013449786136748 - 0.1287029472 NA - 0.061830710645687
x5 - 0.00257099288961 0.381060037378405 0.0539771728 NA - 0.228950909469819
x6 - 0.0001285135424 0.328340515466930 - 0.0151036079 NA 0.175746377823447
x7 0.001075271097203 - 0.00672201015185 0.1063159019 NA 0.0310396672432647
x8 0.002821717052936 - 0.35194359192842 0.0386267592 NA 0.788532508788762
x9 0.000170605626642 - 0.15159591940474 - 0.1144905135 NA - 0.292578890179332
x10 - 0.00493715824672 - 0.25714404311724 0.0872294353 NA - 0.0378334957819533
f1 2.09438979507E-4 -3.18298965591E-5 0.0274133878 NA 6.02675690080756E-5
f2 1.13456743608E-4 2.951519453150E-6 0.0841848522 NA 1.44590827983545E-4
f3 2.560031932362E-5 1.215884436503E-4 0.1482418893 NA 4.69372403139595E-4
f4 1.82373623661E-4 - 4.23416695693E-7 0.0839188567 NA 2.38623840841677E-4
f5 5.250288608271E-5 - 1.66491312265E-6 0.0030517851 NA - 2.7765682651025E-8
f6 2.072720176124E-4 - 1.68553778343E-4 0.0000109317 NA - 5.66035452373708E-4
f7 5.395937897848E-6 - 1.80896747124E-4 0.0165644486 NA - 0.00382303677895E-3
f8 2.105095828321E-5 4.567718475998E-4 0.0025184283 NA 9.98276693136147E-5
f9 - 7.37643136604E-5 1.190666480262E-5 0.0001291515 NA - 2.14590746255737E-6
f10 7.509338718631E-8 1.094030285101E-7 0.0000003019 NA - 3.57965466605847E-8
fbest 3.7720E-04 5.3454E-04 0.359195584 NA 1.7909E-04
Std 2.3264E-02 1.5998E-03 NA NA 1.1326E-02
Time NA NA 151.52 NA 216.925
feval NA NA NA NA 335000

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 Int. j. inf. tecnol.

Table 9 Results obtained for

ITHS [32] EA [15] COA [33] Present technique
neurophysiology application
x1 0.757992217157792 - 0.8078668904 - 1.0000000000 0.516584261034081
x2 0.757995636725586 - 0.9560562726 - 1.0000000000 0.774712717088752
x3 0.652290147139058 0.5850998782 - 0.0137000000 - 0.856254181920293
x4 0.652305698905455 - 0.2219439027 - 0.0138000000 0.632495430146775
x5 0.026046699540825 0.0620152964 0.5209000000 0.000028991744462
x6 - 0.02600993908949 - 0.0057942792 - 0.5207000000 0.000053884748696
f1 3.463732647923E-5 0.0050092197 1.8769E-004 3.05228041175276E-05
f2 6.011011956097E-5 0.0366973076 1.9044E-004 2.30263175589942E-05
f3 9.686086290412E-6 0.0124852708 2.9019E-008 - 4.5754339081621E-06
f4 1.585609322857E-5 0.0276342907 - 2.0000E-004 0.90339580843584E-06
f5 1.141785526275E-5 0.0168784849 1.3944E-006 0.76691031854277E-05
f6 1.345652755927E-5 0.0248569233 4.9330E-005 1.38164946280712E-06
fBest 7.3957E-05 0.123561497 5.81E-04 4.4858E-07
Std 7.2097E-03 NA NA 2.6923E-22
Time NA 28.90 NA 68.404
feval NA NA NA 196000

5.2.4 Neurophysiology application

Consider the test problem known as Neurophysiology

application [15, 19, 27–29]. This bechmark problem con-
sist of six nonlinear equations in six variables described as
follows:
9
f1 ðxÞ ¼ x1 2 þ x3 2  1 >
>
>
>
2 2 >
>
f2 ðxÞ ¼ x2 þ x4  1 >
>
>
>
>
>
3 3
f3 ðxÞ ¼ x5 x3 þ x6 x4  c1 =
ð7Þ
f4 ðxÞ ¼ x5 x1 3 þ x6 x2 3  c2 >
>
>
>
>
>
> Fig. 13 Fitness value comparison for neurophysiology application
f5 ðxÞ ¼ x5 x1 x3 2 þ x6 x4 2 x2  c3 >
>
>
>
>
2 2 ;
f6 ðxÞ ¼ x5 x1 x3 þ x6 x2 x4  c4 proposed GA outperforms all other algorithms in getting
top values for best fitness as well as standard deviation.
where 10  xi  10, i ¼ 1; 2; . . .; 6. Here, c0i s are constants
which are randomly chosen as zero for all i ¼ 1; . . .; 4. We
change the above system (Eq. 7) as multi-objective opti- 6 Conclusion and future work
mization problem (Eq. 8) with fitness functions as z ¼
jf1 j þ jf2 j þ jf3 j þ jf4 j þ jf5 j þ jf6 j where x¼ The solution of nonlinear equations assumes importance
ðx1 ; x2 ; x3 ; x4 ; x5 ; x6 Þ and fi ¼ fi ðxÞ 8i ¼ 1; 2; . . .; 6 with due to its applications in various fields. This work carries
minfi ðxÞ ¼ 0 ð8Þ out a comprehensive review to analyze the works that
employee GA in this area. In the paper, we consider the
To perform experiment for this test problem, population system as an optimization problem which is converted into
size is set to 300 (adopted from Grosan et al. [15] for a new system with the help of fitness function. The results
making a fair comparison). The results have been com- of the empirical studies are used to set the parameters of
pared with other algorithms viz. ITHS [32], EA [15] and, GA for which multiple experiments were carried out. The
COA [33]. scaling function and the selection method reported in the
paper are chosen after carrying out a priori investigation to
The simulation results for neurophysiology application select them. We verify the performance of the work by
are presented in Table 9. And, the graphical comparison for taking various benchmark problems, which includes two
best fitness values is presented in Fig. 13. We conclude that multi-dimensional optimization problems with single

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Int. j. inf. tecnol.
function and three multi-dimensional problems with sev-
eral functions. Then, after solving the standard problems,
we compare the findings with other optmization tech-
niques, namely BFA, SDA, HSDBC-S, HSDBC-R [23],
Traditional GA as well as Improved GA [24] for problems
with single function, and GRAV [31], ITHS [32], EA [15]
and, COA [33] for problems involving many functions. We
conclude that the proposed technique provides promising
results for each test problems in comparison with the
solutions obtained by other algorithms. As a part of future
development work, the author intend to use the developed
technique for handling more complex multi-objective
optmization problems like Feature selection problem [34],
potential energy function [35] and many more.
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