Simulated Annealing

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What Does Simulated Annealing Mean?

Simulated annealing is a mathematical and modeling method that is often used to help find a global optimization in a particular function or problem. Simulated annealing gets its name from the process of slowly cooling metal, applying this idea to the data domain.

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Simulated annealing is also known simply as annealing.

Techopedia Explains Simulated Annealing

Various uses of simulated annealing help to refine algorithms that are built toward modeling global optimizations or optimums. One example is cited in Wolfram MathWorld, where the "traveling salesman problem" is attacked with an algorithm that uses simulated annealing in order to break down optimal outcomes. WM suggests that simulated annealing uses two of what it calls "tricks" to more fully optimize results – the first one is allowing certain "bad trades" that open up greater efficiencies within their domains. The second one is described as "lowering the temperature" of the data construct by slowly limiting the size of allowed bad trades.

Processes like simulated annealing are used to build more sophisticated operations that, while working on more complicated sets of rules, develop greater efficiencies related to their goals.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.