Is this possible to find equation of a series using genetic programming?

Question

I have a list of numbers which form a series. I want to find the equation which can regenerate the same series. Is this possible? Also, what would you recommend to program it (GA, GP, etc). Please give an example.

Answer 1

You may take a look at project Eureqa

Eureqa (pronounced "eureka") is a software tool for detecting equations and hidden mathematical relationships in your data. Its goal is to identify the simplest mathematical formulas which could describe the underlying mechanisms that produced the data. Eureqa is free to download and use.

The software is designed to find least squares approximations for series of data. If your series can be exactly described as a function, you'll probably find it. Eureqa uses genetic algorithms, and in the web page there are a few references to papers and articles.

Below you may see the results (from my machine) for a series formed as 3*x^2+4 running on Eureqa:

Post Scriptum:

Regrettably the software isn't free anymore :(