Adaptive Methods

Adaptive methods have their foundation in the mathematical field of control theory. The basic idea of an adaptive method is for a computer system to modify the state or condition of the solution procedure to make the algorithm more efficient or accurate as it proceeds. The actual algorithm modification is performed in accordance with a control law that uses feedback from the current state of the algorithm. Usually, the adaptation is designed as the best possible under some selected performance measure for the problem. The feedback-adaptation cycle is completely natural for most living creatures, but very difficult to implement in a computer algorithm.