Here is an example w/optim where you have an objective function F(x) where you have (possibly a few) constraints of form x_i=x_j, and you can specify the constraints flexibly, which is what I _think_ you want. An example from you would have been nice.
## objective function that depends on all parameters, here a, b, c obfun <- function(a,b,c,dd) sum((dd - (exp(a * 1:100) + exp(b * 1:50) + exp(c * 1:25) ))^2) ## fn for optim fr <- function(x, eqspec, dd, obfun) { ## assign variables for parameter values given in x for(i in 1:length(x)) assign(names(x)[i], x[[i]]) ## use eqspec to assign parameter values determined w/equ. constr. for(i in 1:length(eqspec)) assign( names(eqspec)[i], x[[ eqspec[[i]] ]]) ## now have all parameter values, call objective function obfun(a,b,c,d, dd) } dd <- exp(-.05 * 1:100) + exp(-.05 * 1:50) + exp(.005 * 1:25) ## let par contain all parameters that are not eq. constrained and ## all parameters on right side of constraints of form a=b ## let eqspec give all dependent parameters on left side of ## the constraints of form a=b ## e.g. ## for constraint a=b xx <- optim(par=list(b=-4, c=-.1), fn=fr, eqspec=list(a="b"), dd=dd, obfun=obfun) ## for constraint b=a x1 <- optim(par=list(a=-4, c=-.1), fn=fr, eqspec=list(b="a"), dd=dd, obfun=obfun) On Sun, 8 Jun 2008, Alex F. Bokov wrote: > Hello, and apologies for the upcoming naive questions. I am a biologist > who is trying to teach himself the appropriate areas of math and stats. > I welcome pointers to suggested background reading just as much as I do > direct answers to my question. > > Let's say I have a function F() that takes variables (a,b,c,a1,b1,c1) > and returns x, and I want to find the values of these variables that > result in a minimum value of x. That's a straightforward application of > optim(). However, for the same function I also need to obtain values > that return the minimum value of x subject to the following constraints: > a=a1, b=b1, c=c1, a=a1 && b=b1, a=a1 && c=c1, ... and so on, for any > combination of these constraints including a=a1, b=b1, c=c1. The brute > force way to do this with optim() would be to write into F() an immense > switch statement anticipating every possible combination of constrained > variables. Obviously this is inefficient and unmaintainable. Therefore, > my question is: > > Is the purpose of constrOptim() this exact type of problem? If so, how > does one express the constraint I described above in terms of the ui, > ci, and theta parameters? Are there any introductory texts I should have > read for this to be obvious to me from constrOptim's documentation? > > If constrOptim() is not the answer to this problem, can anybody suggest > any more elegant alterntives to the switch-statement-from-hell approach? > > Thank you very, very much in advance. I thought I understood R > reasonably well until I started banging my head against this problem! > > ______________________________________________ > R-help@r-project.org mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. > ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.