Soft Computing

This book starts with an introduction to soft computing, a family consisting of many members, namely Genetic Algorithms (GAs), Fuzzy Logic (FL), Neural Networks (NNs) and others. To realize the need for a non-traditional optimization tool like GA, one chapter is devoted to explain the principle of traditional optimization. The working cycle of a GA is explained in detail. The mechanisms of some specialized GAs are then discussed with appropriate examples. Fuzzy sets are introduced before explaining the principle of fuzzy reasoning and clustering. The fundamentals of NNs are presented, prior to the discussion on various forms of NN. The combined techniques, such as GA-FL, GA-NN, NN-FL and GA-FL-NN are explained in the last three chapters.