[R] constraint optimization: solving large scale general nonlinear problems

Florin Maican florin.maican at handels.gu.se
Sun Mar 29 18:02:04 CEST 2009


Ravi, 

I solve for the fixed-point  x=g(x;b,Y). The variable Y is given - i
can omitted here to not introduce confusion. 

   max_{x,b}  f(x,b)
     
    constr    x=g(x;b)

Let b1 the  initial values for b.  Having b1 I
can compute the solution x1 of the system x=g(x,b1) - x1 fixed-point.
So,

   b2= max_{b} f(x1,b)=f( g(x1,b),b), since x1=g(x1,b)

I repeat this until || b_{n}-b_{n-1}||< eps   then I have  b optim.

Why I introduce discontinuity in f?
It is hard in this way to control the error from solving the
fixed-point. In addition, the x=g(x,b) may have multiple solutions.
For those reasons, I  want to solve a constraint optimization
problem. 

Best regards,
Florin


On Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:03:02 -0400
Ravi Varadhan <rvaradhan at jhmi.edu> wrote:

> Florin,
> 
> How do you obtain x from (Y, b), i.e. x = g(Y,b)? 
> 
> I don't follow how a "discontinuity" is introduced, when you plug in
> x(Y, b) into f.  If f(.) is smooth and all the g(.) are smooth, then
> the composition f(g(.)) will also be smooth.  If this is not the
> case, what type of discontinuity do you have (e.g. f(.) is
> continuous, but its gradient is not, or f(.) itself has jump
> discontinuites)? 
> 
> Ravi.
> 
> ____________________________________________________________________
> 
> Ravi Varadhan, Ph.D.
> Assistant Professor,
> Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology
> School of Medicine
> Johns Hopkins University
> 
> Ph. (410) 502-2619
> email: rvaradhan at jhmi.edu
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Florin Maican <florin.maican at handels.gu.se>
> Date: Friday, March 27, 2009 3:48 pm
> Subject: Re: [R] constraint optimization: solving large scale
> general	nonlinear problems To: Ravi Varadhan
> <rvaradhan at jhmi.edu> Cc: r-help <r-help at r-project.org>
> 
> 
> > The number of variables is larger that the number of functions
> > constraints. You are right I can rewrite my problem like this
> >  
> >  max f =h1(x11;x12;..;x1n;Y,b)+ h2(x21,x22, ... x2m;Y,b)
> >   x,b
> >  
> >  I know  Y  and  for  given values of  b  I can compute {x11,
> > x1n} as
> >  one  system of equations
> >  and {x21,x22  and x2m} as another system of equations.   The x are
> > functions of  Y and b.
> >  
> >  I can solve these systems and after plug x(Y,b) in  f(.)  and
> > find optimal b, but this will introduce discontinuity  and I cannot
> > find the optimal solution. I tried like this by using Rgenoud and
> > SANN  but both algorithms did not converge after 1 week!!!!!
> >  In my case the number of h functions are over 30.
> >  
> >  Florin
> >  
> >  
> >  On Fri, Mar 27, 2009 at 8:19 PM, Ravi Varadhan
> > <rvaradhan at jhmi.edu> wrote: 
> >  > Hi,
> >  >
> >  > Looking at your problem, it seems like you can simply transform
> >  > it 
> > to an
> >  > unconstrained problem:
> >  >
> >  > Maximize h(x1, x2, ..., xn)
> >  >
> >  > where h(x1, x2, ..., xn) = f(g1(x), g2(x), ..., gn(x)).
> >  >
> >  > Am I missing something or haven't you provided all the
> >  > information?
> >  >
> >  > Ravi.
> >  >
> >  > ____________________________________________________________________
> >  >
> >  > Ravi Varadhan, Ph.D.
> >  > Assistant Professor,
> >  > Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology
> >  > School of Medicine
> >  > Johns Hopkins University
> >  >
> >  > Ph. (410) 502-2619
> >  > email: rvaradhan at jhmi.edu
> >  >
> >  >
> >  > ----- Original Message -----
> >  > From: Ravi Varadhan <rvaradhan at jhmi.edu>
> >  > Date: Friday, March 27, 2009 2:42 pm
> >  > Subject: Re: [R] constraint optimization: solving large scale
> >  > general nonlinear problems
> >  > To: Florin Maican <florin.maican at handels.gu.se>
> >  > Cc: r-help <r-help at r-project.org>
> >  >
> >  >
> >  > > Can you tell us more about your obj function, f, and the
> >  > > equality constraints g_k?
> >  > >
> >  > >  Do you really have as many equality constraints as the number
> >  > > of variables?  Are these all non-linear?  Can't you find the
> >  > > roots of this system of equations?  If yes, you could find all
> >  > > the roots (with multiple starts or some other search
> >  > > technique) and choose the one that maximizes f(x).
> >  > >
> >  > >  Ravi.
> >  > >  ____________________________________________________________________
> >  > >
> >  > >  Ravi Varadhan, Ph.D.
> >  > >  Assistant Professor,
> >  > >  Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology
> >  > >  School of Medicine
> >  > >  Johns Hopkins University
> >  > >
> >  > >  Ph. (410) 502-2619
> >  > >  email: rvaradhan at jhmi.edu
> >  > >
> >  > >
> >  > >  ----- Original Message -----
> >  > >  From: Florin Maican <florin.maican at handels.gu.se>
> >  > >  Date: Friday, March 27, 2009 2:01 pm
> >  > >  Subject: [R] constraint optimization: solving large scale
> >  > > general nonlinear problems
> >  > >  To: r-help <r-help at r-project.org>
> >  > >
> >  > >
> >  > >  > Hi
> >  > >  >
> >  > >  >  I need advice regarding constraint optimization with large
> >  > >  > number
> >  > > of
> >  > >  >  variables.
> >  > >  >
> >  > >  >  I need to solve the following problem
> >  > >  >
> >  > >  >     max      f(x1,...,xn)
> >  > >  >    x1,..xn
> >  > >  >
> >  > >  >      x1=g1(x1,...,xn)
> >  > >  >      .
> >  > >  >      .
> >  > >  >      xn=gn(x1,...,xn)
> >  > >  >
> >  > >  >  I am using Rdonlp2  package which works well until 40 
> > variables in
> >  > > my
> >  > >  >  case. I need to solve this problem with over 300
> >  > >  > variables. In
> >  > > this case
> >  > >  >  Rdonlp2 is very  very slowly. I know that in Matlab
> >  > >  > exists  Knitro ( for large optimization problems.
> >  > >  >
> >  > >  >  It will be great if you can suggest me some alternatives
> >  > >  > solutions.
> >  > >  >
> >  > >  >
> >  > >  >  Thanks in advance,
> >  > >  >  Florin
> >  > >  >
> >  > >  >
> >  > >  >
> >  > >  >  --
> >  > >  >           Florin G. Maican
> >  > >  >  ==================================
> >  > >  >
> >  > >  >  Ph.D. candidate,
> >  > >  >  Department of Economics,
> >  > >  >  School of Business, Economics and Law,
> >  > >  >  Gothenburg University, Sweden
> >  > >  >  -----------------------------------
> >  > >  >      P.O. Box 640 SE-405 30,
> >  > >  >      Gothenburg, Sweden
> >  > >  >
> >  > >  >   Mobil:  +46 76 235 3039
> >  > >  >   Phone:  +46 31 786 4866
> >  > >  >   Fax:    +46 31 786 4154
> >  > >  >   Home Page:
> >  > >  >   E-mail: florin.maican at handels.gu.se
> >  > >  >  ------------------------------------
> >  > >  >   "Not everything that counts can be
> >  > >  >   counted, and not everything that can be
> >  > >  >   counted counts."
> >  > >  >                           --- Einstein ---
> >  > >  >
> >  > >  >  ______________________________________________
> >  > >  >  R-help at r-project.org mailing list
> >  > >  >
> >  > >  >  PLEASE do read the posting guide
> >  > >  >  and provide commented, minimal, self-contained,
> >  > >  > reproducible 
> > code.
> >  > >
> >  > >  ______________________________________________
> >  > >  R-help at r-project.org mailing list
> >  > >
> >  > >  PLEASE do read the posting guide
> >  > >  and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible
> >  > > code.
> >  >
> >  >
> >  
> >  
> >  -- 
> >  --
> >         Florin G. Maican
> >  ==================================
> >  
> >  Ph.D. candidate,
> >  Department of Economics,
> >  School of Business, Economics and Law,
> >  Gothenburg University, Sweden
> >  -----------------------------------
> >    P.O. Box 640 SE-405 30,
> >    Gothenburg, Sweden
> >  
> >  Mobil:  +46 76 235 3039
> >  Phone:  +46 31 786 4866
> >  Fax:    +46 31 786 4154
> >  Home Page: 
> >  E-mail: florin.maican at handels.gu.se
> >  ------------------------------------
> >  "Not everything that counts can be
> >  counted, and not everything that can be
> >  counted counts."
> >                         --- Einstein --- 
> 


-- 
         Florin G. Maican            
==================================

Ph.D. candidate,                    
Department of Economics,
School of Business, Economics and Law,             
Gothenburg University, Sweden       
-----------------------------------
    P.O. Box 640 SE-405 30,         
    Gothenburg, Sweden              

 Mobil:  +46 76 235 3039             
 Phone:  +46 31 786 4866             
 Fax:    +46 31 786 4154              
 Home Page: http://maicanfg.googlepages.com/index.html
 E-mail: florin.maican at handels.gu.se 
------------------------------------
 "Not everything that counts can be 
 counted, and not everything that can be 
 counted counts."
                         --- Einstein ---




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