I have a function fun(x,y,z), such that say, x=1:10, y=50:60, z=100:105. Which optimization method (and how) I can use to get the minimum of this function, for example, where (x,y,z)=(3,52,101). I am working in Matlab.
Thank you for any help
Algorithms
There are many many algorithms out there that you can use for direct search optimization such as Nelder-Mead, Particle Swarm, Genetic Algorithm, etc.
I believe Nelder-Mead is a simplex optimization method which is used by fminsearch function in MATLAB.
Also, there is Genetic Algorithm which comes with MATLAB Global Optimization toolbox. You may want to give that a try as well.
Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is another direct search method that you can use. However, there is no official toolbox for Particle Swarm method built by Mathworks. The good news is there is quite a few PSO toolbox developed by other people. I personally have used this one and am quite happy with the performance. Its syntax is similar to Genetic Algorithm functions that come with Global Optimization Toolbox.
Discrete Optimization
Regarding your question that you are looking for a set of integer values namely x,y, and z corresponding to the minimum objective function value, I would add a part at the beginning of the objective function that rounds the variables to the closest integers and then feeds them to your main function fun(x,y,z). This way you would discretize your function space.
I hope my answer helps.
Related
Is there any linear programing solver, written for MATLAB, that (a) solves with the primal-dual interior point method, (b) the user has the options to set the target barrier parameter (he lowest value of barrier parameter for which the KKT system is solved)?
I currently use IPOPT, which has the target barrier parameter options.
However, at convergence, the product of dual*slack seems to only be approximately satisfied (with an error of say (+-)1e-7 for a target parameter of 1e-5).
I have tried to play around with the tolerances, but to no avail.
For MATLAB use, I recommend using CVX, which includes Gurobi, MOSEK, GLPK, and SDPT3. All of those can solve the linear program very efficiently.
CVX is very easy to use in MATLAB.
I am very new to MatLab. Thus I am sorry if this is very basic.
I use a function called fmincon to do find a solution for minimizing a function. Why do I get different solutions for running fmincon?
I would like to know a satisfying or convincing mathematical or programming explanation for having different solutions using fmincon.
Check these limitations in the MATLAB documentation.
fmincon is a gradient-based method that is designed to work on problems where the objective and constraint functions are both continuous and have continuous first derivatives.
The function is very delicate and it is best if you can avoid it. It only works neatly on problems that are neatly defined to begin with. Any deviation can lead to local instead of global minima, and these can depend (among other things) on your initial solution estimate or starting point.
As fmincon is sensitive to initial point, If you set different start point for the fmincon, you might get a different solution in each apply. You can find one of the algorithms of fmincon here.
I am trying to implement bayesian optimization using gauss process regression, and I want to try the multiple output GP firstly.
There are many softwares that implemented GP, like the fitrgp function in MATLAB and the ooDACE toolbox.
But I didn't find any available softwares that implementd the so called multiple output GP, that is, the Gauss Process Model that predict vector valued functions.
So, Are there any softwares that implemented the multiple output gauss process that I can use directly?
I am not sure my answer will help you as you seem to search matlab libraries.
However, you can do co-kriging in R with gstat. See http://www.css.cornell.edu/faculty/dgr2/teach/R/R_ck.pdf or https://github.com/cran/gstat/blob/master/demo/cokriging.R for more details about usage.
The lack of tools to do cokriging is partly due to the relative difficulty to use it. You need more assumptions than for simple kriging: in particular, modelling the dependence between in of the cokriged outputs via a cross-covariance function (https://stsda.kaust.edu.sa/Documents/2012.AGS.JASA.pdf). The covariance matrix is much bigger and you still need to make sure that it is positive definite, which can become quite hard depending on your covariance functions...
I want to optimize a multi-variable function with the patternsearch function in MATLAB. The function requires a lower and upper boundary and looks within the boundaries in a continuous domain.
I however have a discrete set of values in an excel file and would like the algorithm to search within this discrete domain instead of in the continuous domain.
Is this possible with patternsearch?
Maybe I don't understand correctly your question but if you have a (discret and finite) set of values, why don't you compute the function's value at these points and return the minium?
In short, no. That is not what patternsearch is intended for. Optimization techniques for discrete and continuous search spaces are quite expectedly different.
If you're looking for an approximate answer however, it is possible to use spline, polyfit, etc. to arrive at an approximate continuous function for your data and then apply patternsearch on it.
If you provide greater detail about your problem, I or someone else may be able to suggest a more suitable way of working with your data.
The best optimization tool for this is the Genetic Algorithm. This optimization tool comes with Matlab's global optimization toolbox and allows for optimization of both continuous and discrete variables at the same time.
In the genetic algorithm variables that are integers have to be declared as such. Non-declared variables are continuous by default.
Check the Global Optimization Toolbox guide for information on how it works: http://it.mathworks.com/help/pdf_doc/gads/gads_tb.pdf.
I'm using the genetic algorithm from the MATLAB Global Optimization Toolbox with SimEvents, in order to implement a mixed integer optimization making use of simulation outputs to evaluate the fitness function. My model is pretty similar to the one described in this video from MathWorks website:
http://www.mathworks.it/videos/optimizing-manufacturing-production-processes-68961.html
Reading the documentation, I found that ga can solve constrained problems only if such constraints are linear inequalities. The constraints are supposed to be written as functions of the problem's variables, that in this case are the number of resources used during the simulation.
I would like, instead, to set a constraint that takes into account another simulation output (e.g. the drain utilization), i.e. minimize
objfun = backlog*10000 + cost
where backlog is a simulation output (obtained using simOut.get), considering the following constraint:
drain_utilization > 0.7
where drain_ utilization is another simulation output (again, obtained using simOut.get).
Is it possible or this feature is not supported by the Global Optimization Toolbox?
Thank you in advance and forgive me for any improper term, but I'm new to the Global Optimization Toolbox.