Integrating estimation of distribution algorithms versus Q-learning into Meta-RaPS for solving the 0-1 multidimensional knapsack problem

•EDA and Q-Learning are integrated in the memoryless metaheuristic Meta-RaPS.•Integrating learning into metaheuristics can significantly improve performance.•Algorithms are assessed by solving the multi dimension knapsack problem.•Meta-RaPS EDA performs better than Meta-RaPS Q.•Both are superior to the original Meta-RaPS, and existing benchmark data.

Finding near-optimal solutions in an acceptable amount of time is a challenge when developing sophisticated approximate approaches. A powerful answer to this challenge might be reached by incorporating intelligence into metaheuristics. We propose integrating two methods into Meta-RaPS (Metaheuristic for Randomized Priority Search), which is currently classified as a memoryless metaheuristic. The first method is the Estimation of Distribution Algorithms (EDA), and the second is utilizing a machine learning algorithm known as Q-Learning. To evaluate their performance, the proposed algorithms are tested on the 0-1 Multidimensional Knapsack Problem (MKP). Meta-RaPS EDA appears to perform better than Meta-RaPS Q-Learning. However, both showed promising results compared to other approaches presented in the literature for the 0-1 MKP.