Stable Marriage and Genetic Algorithms: A Fertile Union

  • Authors:
  • Brian Aldershof;Olivia M. Carducci

  • Affiliations:
  • Graham Capital Management, Stamford, CT 06902;Department of Mathematics, Lafayette College, Easton, PA 18042-1781

  • Venue:
  • Journal of Heuristics
  • Year:
  • 1999

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Abstract

We describe a pair of genetic algorithmsfor solving two stable matching problems. Both stable matchingproblems we will consider involve a set of applicants for positionsand a set of employers. Each applicant and each employer preparesa rank order list of a subset of the actors in the other set.The goal is to find an assignment of applicants to employersin which if applicant a is not assigned to employer b then either a prefers his assignmentto b or b prefers its assignment toa. In other words, no applicant /employerpair can both improve their situations by dropping their currentassignments in favor of each other. Our goal will be to enumeratethe stable matchings. One of the problems we will consideris the well-known stable marriage problem, in which neither applicantnor employer preference lists are linked. In the other problem,we will allow pairs of applicants who form a couple to submitjoint rank order lists of ordered pairs of employers.