# How can one use Genetic Algorithms to solve the “15 Puzzle” (Mystic Square)?

How would one go about solving the 15 squares puzzle using a Genetic Algorithms approach? In particular, I'd like to understand how you would represent the "chromosome" in the evolving system. That is, what's the relationship between the (artificial) "genes" and some sort of phenotypical expression w/r/t the problem. It seems like genes would somehow represent moves or sequences of moves but I'm not entirely clear how this would work.

• OK, FWIW, I edited this a bit to distil it down to what I think is the core question, which is how to represent the "chromosome". If one can figure that out, the mechanics of evolving a population are well documented elsewhere. It is an interesting question, although I will say that at first blush I'm not actually sure that GA's are a good approach to this problem. I'm hoping somebody will come along and show that I'm wrong in thinking so. – mindcrime Jul 20 '17 at 0:13
• Yes, you are right. Sequences of moves, i.e. algorithm. I suggest you to read this site about GA, if you haven't already. – Eugene Zavidovsky Jul 20 '17 at 15:26