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BoundedBroydenFletcherGoldfarbShanno Class

Limited-memory Broyden–Fletcher–Goldfarb–Shanno (L-BFGS) optimization method.
Inheritance Hierarchy
SystemObject
  Accord.Math.OptimizationBaseOptimizationMethod
    Accord.Math.OptimizationBaseGradientOptimizationMethod
      Accord.Math.OptimizationBoundedBroydenFletcherGoldfarbShanno

Namespace:  Accord.Math.Optimization
Assembly:  Accord.Math (in Accord.Math.dll) Version: 3.8.0
Syntax
public class BoundedBroydenFletcherGoldfarbShanno : BaseGradientOptimizationMethod, 
	IGradientOptimizationMethod, IOptimizationMethod, IOptimizationMethod<double[], double>, 
	IGradientOptimizationMethod<double[], double>, IFunctionOptimizationMethod<double[], double>, 
	IOptimizationMethod<BoundedBroydenFletcherGoldfarbShannoStatus>, IOptimizationMethod<double[], double, BoundedBroydenFletcherGoldfarbShannoStatus>, 
	ISupportsCancellation
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The BoundedBroydenFletcherGoldfarbShanno type exposes the following members.

Constructors
Properties
  NameDescription
Public propertyCorrections
Gets or sets the number of corrections used in the L-BFGS update. Recommended values are between 3 and 7. Default is 5.
Public propertyEvaluations
Public propertyFunction
Gets or sets the function to be optimized.
(Inherited from BaseOptimizationMethod.)
Public propertyFunctionTolerance
Gets or sets the accuracy with which the solution is to be found. Default value is 1e5. Smaller values up until zero result in higher accuracy.
Public propertyGradient
Gets or sets a function returning the gradient vector of the function to be optimized for a given value of its free parameters.
(Inherited from BaseGradientOptimizationMethod.)
Public propertyGradientTolerance
Gets or sets a tolerance value when detecting convergence of the gradient vector steps. Default is 0.
Public propertyIterations
Public propertyLowerBounds
Gets or sets the lower bounds of the interval in which the solution must be found.
Public propertyMaxIterations
Gets or sets the maximum number of iterations to be performed during optimization. Default is 0 (iterate until convergence).
Public propertyNumberOfVariables
Gets the number of variables (free parameters) in the optimization problem.
(Inherited from BaseOptimizationMethod.)
Public propertySolution
Gets the current solution found, the values of the parameters which optimizes the function.
(Inherited from BaseOptimizationMethod.)
Public propertyStatus
Public propertyToken
Gets or sets a cancellation token that can be used to stop the learning algorithm while it is running.
(Inherited from BaseOptimizationMethod.)
Public propertyUpperBounds
Gets or sets the upper bounds of the interval in which the solution must be found.
Public propertyValue
Gets the output of the function at the current Solution.
(Inherited from BaseOptimizationMethod.)
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Methods
  NameDescription
Public methodEquals
Determines whether the specified object is equal to the current object.
(Inherited from Object.)
Protected methodFinalize
Allows an object to try to free resources and perform other cleanup operations before it is reclaimed by garbage collection.
(Inherited from Object.)
Public methodGetHashCode
Serves as the default hash function.
(Inherited from Object.)
Public methodGetType
Gets the Type of the current instance.
(Inherited from Object.)
Public methodMaximize
Finds the maximum value of a function. The solution vector will be made available at the Solution property.
(Inherited from BaseGradientOptimizationMethod.)
Public methodMaximize(Double)
Finds the maximum value of a function. The solution vector will be made available at the Solution property.
(Inherited from BaseOptimizationMethod.)
Protected methodMemberwiseClone
Creates a shallow copy of the current Object.
(Inherited from Object.)
Public methodMinimize
Finds the minimum value of a function. The solution vector will be made available at the Solution property.
(Inherited from BaseGradientOptimizationMethod.)
Public methodMinimize(Double)
Finds the minimum value of a function. The solution vector will be made available at the Solution property.
(Inherited from BaseOptimizationMethod.)
Protected methodOnNumberOfVariablesChanged
Called when the NumberOfVariables property has changed.
(Inherited from BaseOptimizationMethod.)
Protected methodOptimize
Implements the actual optimization algorithm. This method should try to minimize the objective function.
(Overrides BaseOptimizationMethodOptimize.)
Public methodToString
Returns a string that represents the current object.
(Inherited from Object.)
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Events
  NameDescription
Public eventProgress
Occurs when progress is made during the optimization.
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Extension Methods
  NameDescription
Public Extension MethodHasMethod
Checks whether an object implements a method with the given name.
(Defined by ExtensionMethods.)
Public Extension MethodIsEqual
Compares two objects for equality, performing an elementwise comparison if the elements are vectors or matrices.
(Defined by Matrix.)
Public Extension MethodTo(Type)Overloaded.
Converts an object into another type, irrespective of whether the conversion can be done at compile time or not. This can be used to convert generic types to numeric types during runtime.
(Defined by ExtensionMethods.)
Public Extension MethodToTOverloaded.
Converts an object into another type, irrespective of whether the conversion can be done at compile time or not. This can be used to convert generic types to numeric types during runtime.
(Defined by ExtensionMethods.)
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Remarks

The L-BFGS algorithm is a member of the broad family of quasi-Newton optimization methods. L-BFGS stands for 'Limited memory BFGS'. Indeed, L-BFGS uses a limited memory variation of the Broyden–Fletcher–Goldfarb–Shanno (BFGS) update to approximate the inverse Hessian matrix (denoted by Hk). Unlike the original BFGS method which stores a dense approximation, L-BFGS stores only a few vectors that represent the approximation implicitly. Due to its moderate memory requirement, L-BFGS method is particularly well suited for optimization problems with a large number of variables.

L-BFGS never explicitly forms or stores Hk. Instead, it maintains a history of the past m updates of the position x and gradient g, where generally the history mcan be short, often less than 10. These updates are used to implicitly do operations requiring the Hk-vector product.

The framework implementation of this method is based on the original FORTRAN source code by Jorge Nocedal (see references below). The original FORTRAN source code of L-BFGS (for unconstrained problems) is available at http://www.netlib.org/opt/lbfgs_um.shar and had been made available under the public domain.

References:

Examples

The following example shows the basic usage of the L-BFGS solver to find the minimum of a function specifying its function and gradient.

// Suppose we would like to find the minimum of the function
// 
//   f(x,y)  =  -exp{-(x-1)²} - exp{-(y-2)²/2}
// 

// First we need write down the function either as a named
// method, an anonymous method or as a lambda function:

Func<double[], double> f = (x) =>
    -Math.Exp(-Math.Pow(x[0] - 1, 2)) - Math.Exp(-0.5 * Math.Pow(x[1] - 2, 2));

// Now, we need to write its gradient, which is just the
// vector of first partial derivatives del_f / del_x, as:
// 
//   g(x,y)  =  { del f / del x, del f / del y }
// 

Func<double[], double[]> g = (x) => new double[] 
{
    // df/dx = {-2 e^(-    (x-1)^2) (x-1)}
    2 * Math.Exp(-Math.Pow(x[0] - 1, 2)) * (x[0] - 1),

    // df/dy = {-  e^(-1/2 (y-2)^2) (y-2)}
    Math.Exp(-0.5 * Math.Pow(x[1] - 2, 2)) * (x[1] - 2)
};

// Finally, we can create the L-BFGS solver, passing the functions as arguments
var lbfgs = new BroydenFletcherGoldfarbShanno(numberOfVariables: 2, function: f, gradient: g);

// And then minimize the function:
bool success = lbfgs.Minimize();
double minValue = lbfgs.Value;
double[] solution = lbfgs.Solution;

// The resultant minimum value should be -2, and the solution
// vector should be { 1.0, 2.0 }. The answer can be checked on
// Wolfram Alpha by clicking the following the link:

// http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=maximize+%28exp%28-%28x-1%29%C2%B2%29+%2B+exp%28-%28y-2%29%C2%B2%2F2%29%29
See Also