Dakota Reference Manual: max_designs

| Dakota Reference Manual Version 6.15 Explore and Predict with Confidence

- Main Page
- Related Pages

All Pages
max_designs

Limit number of solutions to remain in the population

## Specification

Alias: none

Argument(s): REALLIST

Child Keywords:

| Required/Optional | Description of Group | Dakota Keyword | Dakota Keyword Description
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
| Optional | num_designs | Limit the number of solutions

## Description

The `max_designs` niche pressure applicator is designed to choose a limited number of solutions to remain in the population. That number is specified by `num_designs`. It does so in order to balance the tendency for populations to grow very large and thus consuming too many computer resources. It operates by ranking designs according to their fitness standing and a computed count of how many other designs are too close to them. Too close is a function of the supplied niche_vector, which specifies the minimum distance between any two points in the performance space along each dimension individually. Once the designs are all ranked, the top c\ num_designs designs are kept in the population and the remaining ones are bufferred or discarded. Note that like other niching operators, this one will not discard an extreme design.