Dear R-list members,

I have a problem of estimation of parameters represented in a covariance matrix using maximum likelihood function. The problem is essentially a multivariate Gaussian random field model.  The maximum likelihood function is


L(m, *S2 , *N2 ; F1) =        1/ (2***** sqrt(det(***     X

                                exp{-1/2(F1- **)' **** *F1-**)
The covariance matrix represented in the formula is **  and the covariance matrix has the elements with variables like *S2  , *N2 and it is my intention to maximize the variables in the matrix  using the MLE package in R.

In this regard my concerns are, whether the MLE package is able to accept the matrix contains the variables for optimization and if it does so then how to represent the matrix or any other data structure with non-numeric character as variables in it in order to use it for MLE function.

Any help in this sort will be highly appreciated.

Thanks and regards,
B.Nataraj


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