title: Nonlinear and Mixed-Integer Optimization: Fundamentals and Applications (Topics in Chemical Engineering)
author:  Christodoulos A. Floudas 
description: <br>"The author of this book has contributed to this field, notably in the past decade . . . a useful aid for graduates or postgraduates on a process synthesis course, or to practitioners in the field."--<em>Chemistry & Industry</em>
zlib_text: Evolutionary strategies
  for solving optimization problems
  Werner Ebeling, Axel Reimann, and Lutz Molgedey
  Institute of Physics, Humboldt–University Berlin,
  Invalidenstr.110, D-10115 Berlin, Germany
  Abstract. We will give a survey of applications of thermodynamically and biologi-
  cally oriented evolutionary strategies for optimization problems. Primarily, we investi-
  gate the solution of discrete optimization problems, most of combinatorial type, using
  a certain class of coupled diﬀerential equations. The problem is to ﬁnd the minimum
  on a large set of real numbers (the potential) Ui, deﬁned on the integer set i = 1...s,
  where s is an extremely large number. The stationary states of the system correspond
  to relative optima on the discrete set. First, several elementary evolutionary strategies
  are described by simple deterministic equations, leading to a high-dimensional sys-
  tem of coupled diﬀerential equations. The known equations for thermodynamic search
  processes and for simple model