Combining Exact Methods and Heuristics

Abstract

The combination of exact and heuristic methods is as old as mathematical programming (MP) itself, because usually exact methods cannot work properly without a good bound on the optimal cost, which helps pruning the search space. However, it is only in very recent years that the combination has also gone the other way round, permitting the use of methods originally conceived for exact problem solution also in heuristic frameworks. In this article, we revise the newly identified field of metaheuristics, which refers in particular to algorithms combining metaheuristics with MP techniques and show how current research aims at exploiting MP and metaheuristics synergies.

A Survey on Financial Applications of Metaheuristics

“…Gilli et al [2008] and Gilli and Schumann [2012a] promote the use of heuristic-based approaches. Furthermore, the emergence of matheuristics (integration of exact methods and metaheuristics) is mapping a new scenario where hybrid strategies aim to exploit the benefits of both methodologies [Puchinger and Raidl 2005;Raidl 2006;Jourdan 2009;Blum et al 2011;Boschetti and Maniezzo et al 2011;Boussaïd et al 2013;Serani et al 2015]. Likewise, combinations of different metaheuristic frameworks are conceived.…”