NMinimize not returning the best solution
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg121687] NMinimize not returning the best solution
- From: Nacho <ncc1701zzz at gmail.com>
- Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2011 04:13:32 -0400 (EDT)
- Delivered-to: l-mathgroup@mail-archive0.wolfram.com
Hello. I'm trying to minimize a least square problem, non-linear with constraints, using NMinimize. There are 6 variables. I was getting high residuals in the solution. I'm testing with variables calculated from a model I'm trying to fit, not measured values, so a "perfect" solution should be possible. I suspected that NMinimize was trapped in a local minimum so I tried to use StepMonitor to Sow every step and then check the progress of the intermediate steps. I've discovered that with the methods SimulatedAnnealing and NelderMead, the intermediate steps are much better than the returned solution. In fact, the least square residuals are almost zero, as expected, but the returned values are much worse. The returned value is an intermediate step but not the best of them. The method DifferentialEvolution gives the best intermediate step, but it's much lower. I could use the other methods by Sowing all the intermediate results and then checking the best of the set. I've also checked that the variables are within constraints, it's not a problem of intermediate steps being out of bounds. Do you have any idea why is this happening? My code is a mess right now, but I could provide you with an example notebook if that helps. Thanks!