Problems suited to Genetic Programming

Genetic programming is not applicable to all problems. Some classes of problems which work well with genetic solutions are:

• Problems with changing environments. The dynamic nature of the gene-pool allows it to rapidly respond to environmental changes. For example, Internet routing.
• Problems involving complex, hard-to-define environments -- not because it is necessarily better, but it is very difficult to come up with a conventional solution to such problems. For example, predicting economic system behavior (such as the stock market).
• Problems without exact solutions can be closely approximated rather than solved, because genetic programs try non-obvious solutions, and if one proves promising, it gets more closely examined. For example, the travelling salesman problem.