Publisher's Synopsis
In the simplest case, an optimization problem consists of maximizing or minimizing a real function by systematically choosing input values from within an allowed set and computing the value of the function. The generalization of optimization theory and techniques to other formulations comprises a large area of applied mathematics. More generally, optimization includes finding "best available" values of some objective function given a defined domain (or input), including a variety of different types of objective functions and different types of domains. MATLAB Optimization Toolbox provides functions for finding parameters that minimize or maximize objectives while satisfying constraints. The toolbox includes solvers for linear programming, mixed-integer linear programming, quadratic programming, nonlinear optimization, and nonlinear least squares. You can use these solvers to find optimal solutions to continuous and discrete problems, perform tradeoff analyses, and incorporate optimization methods into algorithms and applications. Adding more than one objective to an optimization problem adds complexity. For example, to optimize a structural design, one would desire a design that is both light and rigid. When two objectives conflict, a trade-off must be created. There may be one lightest design, one stiffest design, and an infinite number of designs that are some compromise of weight and rigidity. The set of trade-off designs that cannot be improved upon according to one criterion without hurting another criterion is known as the Pareto set. The curve created plotting weight against stiffness of the best designs is known as the Pareto frontier. Also MATLAB Optimization Toolbox provides functions for MULTIOBJECTIVE, QUADRATIC and MIXED DATA PROGRAMMING
