# Genealogical Distance as a Diversity Estimate in Evolutionary Algorithms

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1704.08774 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1704.08774/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 27 Apr 2017.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Ancestry Tree Clustering for Particle Filter Diversity Maintenance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.24124/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The evolutionary edit distance between two individuals in a population, i.e., the amount of applications of any genetic operator it would take the evolutionary process to generate one individual starting from the other, seems like a promising estimate for the diversity between said individuals. We introduce genealogical diversity, i.e., estimating two individuals' degree of relatedness by analyzing large, unused parts of their genome, as a computationally efficient method to approximate that measure for diversity.