This paper proposes a new measure of cost function ruggedness in local optimization with DEAS. DEAS is a computational optimization method developed since 2002 and has been applied to various engineering fields with success. Since DEAS is a recent optimization method which is rarely introduced in Korean, this paper first provides a brief overview and description of DEAS. In minimizing cost function with this non-gradient method, information on function shape measured automatically will enhance search capability. Considering the search strategies of DEAS are well designed with binary matrix structures, analysis of search behaviors will produce beneficial shape information. This paper deals with a simple quadratic function contained with various magnitudes of noise, and DEAS finds local minimum yielding ruggedness measure of given cost function. The proposed shape information will be directly used in improving DEAS performance in future work.