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Lec01 Introduction

·mathematical optimization There exist some exceptions that can be solved efficiently and reliably.

1.Least-squares and Linear programming

1.1Least-squqres

To solve problems:

\[ minimize \quad ||Ax-b||_2^2 \]
  1. solution \(x^*=(A^TA)^{-1}A^Tb\)
  2. is a reliable and efficient algorithm and software.
  3. computation time proportional to \(n^2k\) (where A belong to \(R^{k\times n}\) )

1.2 Linear programming

To solve problems:

\[ minimize \quad c^Tx\\ \]
\[ subject \ to\quad a_i^Tx\leq b_i\quad i=1,2,...,m \]
  1. no analytical solution
  2. also is a reliable and efficient algorithm and software.
  3. computation time proportional to \(n^2m\)

2.Convex Optimization

To solve problems:

\[ minimize \quad f_0(x)\\ \]
\[ subject \ to\quad f_i(x)\leq b_i\quad i=1,2,...,m \]

where the functions are convex:

Convex function

  • \[f_(αx + βy) ≤ αf_i(x) + βf_i(y)\]

if α + β = 1, α ≥ 0, β ≥ 0

  1. no analytical solution
  2. reliable and efficient algorithms
  3. computation time (roughly) proportional to max{n3, n2m, F }, where F is cost of evaluating fi’s and their first and second derivatives