Theorems Supporting r-flip Search for Pseudo-Boolean Optimization

Modern metaheuristic methodologies rely on well defined neighborhood structures and efficient means for evaluating potential moves within these structures. Move mechanisms range in complexity from simple 1-flip procedures where binary variables are “flipped” one at a time, to more expensive, but more powerful, r-flip approaches where “r” variables are simultaneously flipped. These multi-exchange neighborhood search strategies have proven to be effective approaches for solving a variety of combinatorial optimization problems. In this paper, we present a series of theorems based on partial derivatives that can be readily adopted to form the essential part of r-flip heuristic search methods for Pseudo-Boolean optimization. To illustrate the use of these results, we present preliminary results obtained from four simple heuristics designed to solve a set of Max 3-SAT problems.