Question

One key strength of simulated annealing is its ability in avoiding being trapped at a local maximum. Explain how this is achieved. You may refer to the simulated annealing algorithm for the travelling salesman problem given in the Appendix Suggest the key changes you need to make to the travelng salesman algorithm given in the Appendix such that it can be used for the problem of packing rectangular boxes in a rectangular container. Appendix: The Simulated Annealing Algorithm for the Travelling Salesman Problem 1 Inítialise the (random) order of the city and T 2 Calculate the total path length L1 3 Loop (outer) 4Loop (inner) n times Make a small change to the order of the cities Calculate the new path length L2 If L2 r accept new order Ll takes the new path length L.2 Else reject new order End If 12 13 14 End Loop (inner) 15If there are no accepts, return the latest path and exit algorithm 16Reduce value of T 17 End loop (outer) when T is too small If there are m accepts or n tries, exit inner loop

Answer 1

1. Initialize Length(L) and breadth(B) of Rectangular Container
2. Calculate n for number of total rectangular boxes
2. Loop
3. Take a rectangular box at random of length(l) and breadth(b)
4. IF(l<= L && b <=B)
5. Put the box inside container
6. L = L - l
7. B = B - b
8. END IF
9. END LOOP when n is zero.