<s>
The	O
cross-entropy	O
(	O
CE	O
)	O
method	O
is	O
a	O
Monte	B-Algorithm
Carlo	I-Algorithm
method	I-Algorithm
for	O
importance	B-Algorithm
sampling	I-Algorithm
and	O
optimization	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
method	O
approximates	O
the	O
optimal	O
importance	B-Algorithm
sampling	I-Algorithm
estimator	O
by	O
repeating	O
two	O
phases	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
method	O
has	O
also	O
been	O
applied	O
to	O
the	O
traveling	B-Algorithm
salesman	I-Algorithm
,	O
quadratic	B-Algorithm
assignment	I-Algorithm
,	O
DNA	B-Algorithm
sequence	I-Algorithm
alignment	I-Algorithm
,	O
max-cut	O
and	O
buffer	O
allocation	O
problems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
yields	O
the	O
following	O
randomized	B-General_Concept
algorithm	I-General_Concept
that	O
happens	O
to	O
coincide	O
with	O
the	O
so-called	O
Estimation	O
of	O
Multivariate	O
Normal	O
Algorithm	O
(	O
EMNA	O
)	O
,	O
an	O
estimation	O
of	O
distribution	O
algorithm	O
.	O
</s>
