Within my daily work, I have got to maximize a particular function making use of fminsearch; the code is:
clc
clear all
close all
f = @(x,c,k) -(x(2)/c)^3*(((exp(-(x(1)/c)^k)-exp(-(x(2)/c)^k))/((x(2)/c)^k-(x(1)/c)^k))-exp(-(x(3)/c)^k))^2;
c = 10.1;
k = 2.3;
X = fminsearch(@(x) f(x,c,k),[4,10,20]);
It works fine, as I expect, but not the issue is coming up: I need to bound x within certain limits, as:
4 < x(1) < 5
10 < x(2) < 15
20 < x(3) < 30
To achieve the proper results, I should use the optimization toolbox, that I unfortunately cannot hand.
Is there any way to get the same analysis by making use of only fminsearch?
Well, not using fminsearch directly, but if you are willing to download fminsearchbnd from the file exchange, then yes. fminsearchbnd does a bound constrained minimization of a general objective function, as an overlay on fminsearch. It calls fminsearch for you, applying bounds to the problem.
Essentially the idea is to transform your problem for you, in a way that your objective function sees as if it is solving a constrained problem. It is totally transparent. You call fminsearchbnd with a function, a starting point in the parameter space, and a set of lower and upper bounds.
For example, minimizing the rosenbrock function returns a minimum at [1,1] by fminsearch. But if we apply purely lower bounds on the problem of 2 for each variable, then fminsearchbnd finds the bound constrained solution at [2,4].
rosen = @(x) (1-x(1)).^2 + 105*(x(2)-x(1).^2).^2;
fminsearch(rosen,[3 3]) % unconstrained
ans =
1.0000 1.0000
fminsearchbnd(rosen,[3 3],[2 2],[]) % constrained
ans =
2.0000 4.0000
If you have no constraints on a variable, then supply -inf or inf as the corresponding bound.
fminsearchbnd(rosen,[3 3],[-inf 2],[])
ans =
1.4137 2