Matheuristics

As its name suggests, a matheuristic is the hybridization of mathematical programming with metaheuristics. The hallmark of matheuristics is the central role played by the mathematical programming model, around which the overall heuristic is built. As such, matheuristic is not a rigid paradigm but rather a concept framework for the design of mathematically sound heuristics. The aim of this chapter is to introduce the main matheuristic ideas. Three specific applications in the field of wind farm, packing, and vehicle routing optimization, respectively, are addressed and used to illustrate the main features of the method