Simulated annealing explained with examples

First of all, we will look at what is simulated annealing ( SA). Simulated annealing is a method for solving unconstrained and bound-constrained optimisation problems. Inspired from the annealing process in metal works, which involves heating and controlled cooling of metals to reduce the defects.

Knapsack problem using simulated annealing

The knapsack problem ( Wiki link ) is a problem in combinatorial optimisation. Given a set of items, each with a weight and a value, determine the number of each item to include in a collection so that the total weight is less than or equal to a given limit and the total value is as large as possible. Let's see how we can solve it using simulated annealing.