A mutation operator is a function that is used in genetic algorithms and evolutionary programming to introduce variability and diversity into the population of possible solutions. It randomly alters some aspect of the genetic material or parameter settings of an individual in the population to produce a new candidate solution. The mutation operator is applied in a controlled way to balance the exploration vs. exploitation trade-off in the search space. It helps to avoid getting stuck in local optima and can help to find better solutions in a larger solution space. Examples of mutation operators include bitwise mutation, swapping mutation, inversion mutation, and Gaussian mutation.
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