On the short-term behaviour of genetic algorithms

The present paper is the first from a series of works dealing with the thematic scheme presented below: 1. Formalization of the transient aspects of the genetic paradigm. 2. Formalization of the asymptotic aspects of the genetic paradigm. 3. Applications in search and optimization problems. The immediate purpose of the paper is the critical evaluation of the approaches mentioned in the literature concerning the transient aspects of the genetic paradigm. The present goal is to eliminate ambiguities encountered in some works that use concepts like ‘population as multi-set’. At the same time, problems already formulated or new problems concerning genetic algorithms are treated in a uniform manner.