See the forest before the trees: fine-tuned learning and its application to the traveling salesman problem

In this paper, we introduce the concept of fine-tuned learning which relies on the notion of data approximation followed by sequential data refinement. We seek to determine whether fine-tuned learning is a viable approach to use when trying to solve combinatorial optimization problems. In particular, we conduct an extensive computational experiment to study the performance of fine-tuned-learning-based heuristics for the traveling salesman problem (TSP). We provide important insight that reveals how fine-tuned learning works and why it works well, and conclude that it is a meritorious concept that deserves serious consideration by researchers solving difficult problems