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In mathematical analysis, the maximum and minimum [a] of a function are, respectively, the greatest and least value taken by the function. Known generically as extremum , [ b ] they may be defined either within a given range (the local or relative extrema) or on the entire domain (the global or absolute extrema) of a function.
The Lagrange multiplier theorem states that at any local maximum (or minimum) of the function evaluated under the equality constraints, if constraint qualification applies (explained below), then the gradient of the function (at that point) can be expressed as a linear combination of the gradients of the constraints (at that point), with the ...
The golden-section search is a technique for finding an extremum (minimum or maximum) of a function inside a specified interval. For a strictly unimodal function with an extremum inside the interval, it will find that extremum, while for an interval containing multiple extrema (possibly including the interval boundaries), it will converge to one of them.
Stated precisely, suppose that f is a real-valued function defined on some open interval containing the point x and suppose further that f is continuous at x.. If there exists a positive number r > 0 such that f is weakly increasing on (x − r, x] and weakly decreasing on [x, x + r), then f has a local maximum at x.
Fermat's theorem gives only a necessary condition for extreme function values, as some stationary points are inflection points (not a maximum or minimum). The function's second derivative, if it exists, can sometimes be used to determine whether a stationary point is a maximum or minimum.
Global optimization is distinguished from local optimization by its focus on finding the minimum or maximum over the given set, as opposed to finding local minima or maxima. Finding an arbitrary local minimum is relatively straightforward by using classical local optimization methods. Finding the global minimum of a function is far more ...
The extreme value theorem was originally proven by Bernard Bolzano in the 1830s in a work Function Theory but the work remained unpublished until 1930. Bolzano's proof consisted of showing that a continuous function on a closed interval was bounded, and then showing that the function attained a maximum and a minimum value.
For a sample set, the maximum function is non-smooth and thus non-differentiable. For optimization problems that occur in statistics it often needs to be approximated by a smooth function that is close to the maximum of the set. A smooth maximum, for example, g(x 1, x 2, …, x n) = log( exp(x 1) + exp(x 2) + … + exp(x n) )