Re: Help with NMinimize
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg82432] Re: Help with NMinimize
- From: Flavio <flavio.cimolin at gmail.com>
- Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2007 05:49:43 -0400 (EDT)
- References: <ff1qmk$9eq$1@smc.vnet.net><ff78qi$o1t$1@smc.vnet.net>
Thank you very much for your detailed explanation, now it's perfectly
clear to me which was the problem with my code. Just one last
"philosophical" question: I know that Mathematica deals with simbolic
calculation, but I though that at least the Nxxx commands (NSolve,
NDSolve, NMinimize, ...) would treat the functions just numerically.
So must I keep in mind that these commands have to be considered
"simbolic" too?
Regards,
Flavio
On 19 Ott, 11:01, Szabolcs Horv=E1t <szhor... at gmail.com> wrote:
> Flavio wrote:
> > Thank you for your answer, I'm learning Mathematica and I think I will
> > never stop doing it...
>
> > I realized just after sending the message to have written (to the
> > group) f[x,y,...] instead of f[x_,y_,...] , I'm sorry. Can you please
> > tell me where in the help I can find the difference between the
> > function declaration
>
> > f[x_,y_] :=
>
> > and your kind
>
> > f[{x_,y_}]:=
>
> > What's wrong with the first kind of declaration, which is used many
> > times in the examples?
>
> There is nothing wrong with it.
>
> Note that if you have a function definition
>
> fun[x_] := (Print[x]; x^2)
>
> , then fun[a] evaluates to a^2 :
>
> In[2]:= fun[a]
> During evaluation of In[2]:= a
> Out[2]= a^2
>
> NMinimize evaluates the function passed to it with symbolic arguments
> (and if possible, compiles it). Therefore NMinimize[fun[x], x] will see
> x^2, and not (Print[x]; x^2).
>
> One solution is to define the function in such a way that it does not
> evaluates only with numeric (not symbolic) arguments:
>
> In[3]:=
> Clear[fun]
> fun[x_?NumericQ]:=(Print[x];x^2)
>
> In[5]:= fun[a]
> Out[5]= fun[a]
>
> In[6]:= fun[1]
> During evaluation of In[6]:= 1
> Out[6]= 1
>
> Try NMinimize[fun[x], x] with this second version and you'll notice that
> the Print[x] statement is evaluated for each number NMinimize
> subsittues for x in fun[x].
>
> I could have written simply
>
> g[x1_?NumericQ, x2_?NumericQ, x3_?NumericQ,
> x5_?NumericQ, x5_?NumericQ] := (...)
>
> , but this is too tedious, so I used a more compact version, with a
> named pattern (lst):
>
> g[lst:{x1_, x2_, x3_, x4_, x5} /; And@@NumericQ/@lst] := (...)
>
> The sole reason for putting {x1_, x2_, x3_, x4_, x5_} into a list was
> that I wanted to avoid typing, and test that all of them are numerical
> in one go. Probably the following solution is a better alternative:
>
> g[x1_, x2_, x3_, x4_, x5_] :=
> (...) /; VectorQ[{x1, x2, x3, x4, x5}, NumericQ]
>
> Take a look at the following tutorials to learn about patterns:
>
> http://reference.wolfram.com/mathematica/tutorial/Introduction-Patter...h=
ttp://reference.wolfram.com/mathematica/tutorial/PatternsAndTransfor...
>
> http://reference.wolfram.com/mathematica/tutorial/PatternsOverview.html
>
> In Mathematica, f[x_] := x^2 isn't really a function definition. 'f' is
> not a function in the mathematical sense, and it is not a subroutine
> either (a function in the C sense). This expression is the definition
> of a transformation rule, attached to the symbol 'f'. Whenever
> Mathematica sees the symbol 'f', it checks whether it matches the
> pattern f[_]. If it does, it replaces f[(argument)] with (argument)^2.
>
> Many definitions can be attached to the same symbol, e.g.
>
> factorial[0] = 1
> factorial[n_Integer?Positive] := factorial[n-1]*n
>
> (* this will be used if the previous two don't match: *)
> factorial[_] = "error"
>
> When several definitions are attached to the same symbol, Mathematica
> always checks the "more specific" ones first, i.e. factorial[0] before
> factoial[n_Integer?Positive], and factorial[n_Integer?Positive] before
> factorial[_]. "More specific" is not defined clearly, and sometimes
> Mathematica may not be able to decide which pattern is more specific and
> which is more general. In this case they are tried in the order they
> were defined.
>
> Before you redefine a "function" with many attached rules, Clear[] it,
> so old definitions are removed.
>
> --
> Szabolcs