Title: A unification of the prevalent views on exploitation, exploration, intensification and diversification

Authors: Francois Fagan; Jan H. Van Vuuren

Addresses: Department of Logistics, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag XI, Matieland 7602, South Africa ' Department of Logistics, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag XI, Matieland 7602, South Africa

Abstract: Terms such as exploitation, exploration, intensification and diversification are routinely employed in the metaheuristic literature to explain empirical runtime performance. Six prevalent views on exploitation and exploration are identified in the literature, each expressing a different aspect of these notions. The consistency and meaningfulness of these views are substantiated by their deducibility from the proposed novel definitions of exploitation and exploration, based on the hypothetical construct of a probable fitness landscape. This unifies, and thereby clarifies, the terminology and understanding of metaheuristics.

Keywords: exploitation; exploration; intensification; diversification; fitness landscape; definitions; metaheuristics; metamodelling; empirical runtime performance; metaheuristic literature.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMHEUR.2013.056407

International Journal of Metaheuristics, 2013 Vol.2 No.3, pp.294 - 327

Received: 13 Feb 2013
Accepted: 24 Jul 2013
Published online: 05 Jul 2014 *

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