Precise meaning of "n" in the mutation rate

Hey everyone!

Sorry for the silly question, but I just wanted to be sure of what “n” exactly means in the default mutation ration (1/n). According to the primer, n is the number of variables, so if I have only two sliders as genes that can assume for instance 200 values, then my mutation rate will be set as 50% (1/2), instead of 0,5% (1/200), right?

What’s more, is “n” equivalent to the problem size in computer science? I’m asking this because, besides Deb et al. (2001) recommendation, Schlierkamp-Voosen (1993) showed that the mutation rate = 1/n (where n was the size of problem) works efficiently, so I figured they both came to the same conclusion on the topic.

Best regards,
Gustavo

Hi Gustavo,

‘n’ corresponds to the number of variables in your design problem (not the number of sliders). So in the example you provided, it would be 1/200.