Quadratic programming (QP) is the process of solving certain mathematical optimization problems involving quadratic functions. Specifically, one seeks to optimize a multivariate quadratic function subject to linear constraints on the variables. Quadratic programming is a type of nonlinear programming.
In mathematics, differential calculus is a subfield of calculus that studies the rates at which quantities change. It is one of the two traditional divisions of calculus, the other being integral calculus—the study of the area beneath a curve.
Mathematical optimization or mathematical programming is the selection of a best element, with regard to some criterion, from some set of available alternatives. It is generally divided into two subfields: discrete optimization and continuous optimization. Optimization problems arise in all quantitative disciplines from computer science and engineering to operations research and economics, and the development of solution methods has been of interest in mathematics for centuries.
In mathematical optimization, the method of Lagrange multipliers is a strategy for finding the local maxima and minima of a function subject to equation constraints. It is named after the mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange.
The calculus of variations is a field of mathematical analysis that uses variations, which are small changes in functions and functionals, to find maxima and minima of functionals: mappings from a set of functions to the real numbers. Functionals are often expressed as definite integrals involving functions and their derivatives. Functions that maximize or minimize functionals may be found using the Euler–Lagrange equation of the calculus of variations.
Gradient descent is a method for unconstrained mathematical optimization. It is a first-order iterative algorithm for finding a local minimum of a differentiable multivariate function
In mathematical analysis, the maximum and minimum of a function are, respectively, the largest and smallest value taken by the function. Known generically as extremum, they may be defined either within a given range or on the entire domain of a function. Pierre de Fermat was one of the first mathematicians to propose a general technique, adequality, for finding the maxima and minima of functions.
In mathematics, the Hessian matrix, Hessian or Hesse matrix is a square matrix of second-order partial derivatives of a scalar-valued function, or scalar field. It describes the local curvature of a function of many variables. The Hessian matrix was developed in the 19th century by the German mathematician Ludwig Otto Hesse and later named after him. Hesse originally used the term "functional determinants". The Hessian is sometimes denoted by H or, ambiguously, by ∇2.
Global optimization is a branch of applied mathematics and numerical analysis that attempts to find the global minima or maxima of a function or a set of functions on a given set. It is usually described as a minimization problem because the maximization of the real-valued function is equivalent to the minimization of the function .
In calculus, a derivative test uses the derivatives of a function to locate the critical points of a function and determine whether each point is a local maximum, a local minimum, or a saddle point. Derivative tests can also give information about the concavity of a function.
In calculus, Newton's method (also called Newton–Raphson) is an iterative method for finding the roots of a differentiable function F, which are solutions to the equation F (x) = 0. As such, Newton's method can be applied to the derivative f ′ of a twice-differentiable function f to find the roots of the derivative (solutions to f ′(x) = 0), also known as the critical points of f. These solutions may be minima, maxima, or saddle points; see section "Several variables" in Critical point (mathematics) and also section "Geometric interpretation" in this article. This is relevant in optimization, which aims to find (global) minima of the function f.
In probability theory and statistics, the generalized extreme value (GEV) distribution is a family of continuous probability distributions developed within extreme value theory to combine the Gumbel, Fréchet and Weibull families also known as type I, II and III extreme value distributions. By the extreme value theorem the GEV distribution is the only possible limit distribution of properly normalized maxima of a sequence of independent and identically distributed random variables. Note that a limit distribution needs to exist, which requires regularity conditions on the tail of the distribution. Despite this, the GEV distribution is often used as an approximation to model the maxima of long (finite) sequences of random variables.
Convex optimization is a subfield of mathematical optimization that studies the problem of minimizing convex functions over convex sets. Many classes of convex optimization problems admit polynomial-time algorithms, whereas mathematical optimization is in general NP-hard. With recent advancements in computing and optimization algorithms, convex programming is nearly as straightforward as linear programming.
In convex analysis and the calculus of variations, both branches of mathematics, a pseudoconvex function is a function that behaves like a convex function with respect to finding its local minima, but need not actually be convex. Informally, a differentiable function is pseudoconvex if it is increasing in any direction where it has a positive directional derivative. The property must hold in all of the function domain, and not only for nearby points.
In mathematical optimization, the Rosenbrock function is a non-convex function, introduced by Howard H. Rosenbrock in 1960, which is used as a performance test problem for optimization algorithms. It is also known as Rosenbrock's valley or Rosenbrock's banana function.
Stochastic dominance is a partial order between random variables. It is a form of stochastic ordering. The concept arises in decision theory and decision analysis in situations where one gamble can be ranked as superior to another gamble for a broad class of decision-makers. It is based on shared preferences regarding sets of possible outcomes and their associated probabilities. Only limited knowledge of preferences is required for determining dominance. Risk aversion is a factor only in second order stochastic dominance.
Quasi-Newton methods are methods used to either find zeroes or local maxima and minima of functions, as an alternative to Newton's method. They can be used if the Jacobian or Hessian is unavailable or is too expensive to compute at every iteration. The "full" Newton's method requires the Jacobian in order to search for zeros, or the Hessian for finding extrema. Some iterative methods that reduce to Newton's method, such as SLSQP, may be considered quasi-Newtonian.
In mathematical analysis, a Young measure is a parameterized measure that is associated with certain subsequences of a given bounded sequence of measurable functions. They are a quantification of the oscillation effect of the sequence in the limit. Young measures have applications in the calculus of variations, especially models from material science, and the study of nonlinear partial differential equations, as well as in various optimization. They are named after Laurence Chisholm Young who invented them, already in 1937 in one dimension (curves) and later in higher dimensions in 1942.
In the field of calculus of variations in mathematics, the method of Lagrange multipliers on Banach spaces can be used to solve certain infinite-dimensional constrained optimization problems. The method is a generalization of the classical method of Lagrange multipliers as used to find extrema of a function of finitely many variables.
In mathematical optimization, the Rastrigin function is a non-convex function used as a performance test problem for optimization algorithms. It is a typical example of non-linear multimodal function. It was first proposed in 1974 by Rastrigin as a 2-dimensional function and has been generalized by Rudolph. The generalized version was popularized by Hoffmeister & Bäck and Mühlenbein et al. Finding the minimum of this function is a fairly difficult problem due to its large search space and its large number of local minima.
