Can Music Supplant Math in Environmental Planning?

Can music supplant mathematics for planning environmental systems? The author’s research and experience as presented here would indicate as much. First, an optimization problem is formulated where the number of ecological reserves is to be minimized while conserving all species in a region. Next, the author describes a music-inspired optimization algorithm called “harmony search” by focusing on the analogy between music performance and problem optimization. Finally, computational results are shown.