Thread: Calculus for genetic algorithms

I couldn't decide if this belongs in Math or CS, but I decided on Math by a small margin.

Does anyone know anything about a calculus that describes genetic algorithms/programming (in the way Lambda Calculus describes functional programming)? Has anyone here done any work on one?

I know of a way to give a mathematic description of a genetic algorithm, but that wouldn't be considered a calculus. (Another question might be what exactly a calculus is...)

A calculus is a set of rules to manipulate strings of symbols (at leasts thats how i understand it). So differential calculus shows you what you can and can't do with derivatives etc.

I vaguely got that much, sort of, but how do you get from that to either Math or CS? How are these things created? It's just something I haven't been able to grasp yet.