15-780 – Numerical Optimization

J. Zico Kolter

January 29, 2014

1
 Overview
• Introduction to mathematical programming problems

• Applications

• Classification of optimization problems

• (Linear algebra review)

• Convex optimization problems

• Nonconvex optimization problems

• Solving optimization problems

2
 Overview
• Introduction to mathematical programming problems

• Applications

• Classification of optimization problems

• (Linear algebra review)

• Convex optimization problems

• Nonconvex optimization problems

• Solving optimization problems

2
 Introduction to mathematical optimization

• Casting AI problems as optimization / mathematical

programming problems has been one of the primary trends of
the last 15 years

• A topic not highlighted in textbook (see website for additional

readings)

• A seemingly remarkable fact:

Search problems Mathematical programs

Variable type Discrete Continuous
# of possible solutions Finite Infinite
“Difficulty” of solving Exponential Polynomial (often)

3
 Formal definition
• Mathematical programs are problems of the form
minimize f (x)
x
subject to gi (x) ≤ 0 i = 1, . . . , m

– x ∈ Rn is the optimization variable

– f : Rn → R is objective function

– gi : Rn → R are (inequality) constraint functions

• Feasible region: C = {x : gi (x) ≤ 0, ∀i = 1, . . . , m}

• x? ∈ Rn is an optimal solution if x? ∈ C, and

f (x? ) ≤ f (x), ∀x ∈ C
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 Note on naming

• Mathematical program (or mathematical optimization problem,

and sometimes just optimization problem) refer to the problem
of the form
minimize f (x)
x
subject to gi (x) ≤ 0 i = 1, . . . , m

• Numerical optimization (or mathematical optimization, or just

optimization) refers to the general study of these problems, as
well as methods for solving them on a computer

5
 Overview
• Introduction to mathematical programming problems

• Applications

• Classification of optimization problems

• (Linear algebra review)

• Convex optimization problems

• Nonconvex optimization problems

• Solving optimization problems

6
 Least-squares fitting

h(a)

b
h(ai) − bi

• Given ai , bi , i = 1, . . . , m, find h(a) = x1 a + x2 that optimizes

m
X
minimize (x1 ai + x2 − bi )2
x
i=1

(x1 is slope, x2 is intercept)

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 Weber point
(ai, bi)
(x1, x2)

• Given m points in 2D space (ai , bi ), i = 1, . . . m, find the point

that minimizes the sum of the Euclidean distances
Xm p
minimize (x1 − ai )2 + (x2 − bi )2
x
i=1

• Many modifications, e.g. keep x within range (al , bl ), (au , bu )

m p
X
minimize (x1 − ai )2 + (x2 − bi )2
x
i=1
subject to al ≤ x1 ≤ au , bl ≤ x2 ≤ bu 8
 Overview
• Introduction to mathematical programming problems

• Applications

• Classification of optimization problems

• (Linear algebra review)

• Convex optimization problems

• Nonconvex optimization problems

• Solving optimization problems

9
 Optimization problems

Convex problems Nonconvex problems

10
 Optimization problems

Convex problems Nonconvex problems

Semidefinite programming

Quadratic programming

Linear programming

10
 Optimization problems

Convex problems Nonconvex problems

Semidefinite programming
Integer programming
Quadratic programming

Linear programming

10
 Overview
• Introduction to mathematical programming problems

• Applications

• Classification of optimization problems

• (Linear algebra review)

• Convex optimization problems

• Nonconvex optimization problems

• Solving optimization problems

11
 Notation
• A (column) vector with n real-valued entries

x ∈ Rn

xi denotes the ith entry

• A matrix with real-valued entries, m rows, and n columns

A ∈ Rm×n

Aij denotes the entry in the ith row and jth column

• The transpose operator AT switches rows and columns of a

matrix
Aij = (AT )ji
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 Operations

• Addition: For A, B ∈ Rm×n ,

(A + B)ij = Aij + Bij

• Multiplication: For A ∈ Rm×n , B ∈ Rn×p

n
X
(AB)ij = Aik Bkj , AB ∈ Rm×p
k=1

associative: A(BC) = (AB)C = ABC

distributive: A(B + C) = AB + AC
not commutative: AB 6= BA
transpose of product: (AB)T = B T AT

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• Inner product: For x, y ∈ Rn
n
X
T
x y = hx, yi = x i yi
i=1

• Identity matrix: I ∈ Rn×n has ones on diagonal and zeros

elsewhere, has property that IA = A

• Matrix inverse: For A ∈ Rn×n , A−1 is unique matrix such that

AA−1 = I = A−1 A

(may not exist for all square matrices)

inverse of product: (AB)−1 = B −1 A−1 when A and B both
invertible

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 Overview
• Introduction to mathematical programming problems

• Applications

• Classification of optimization problems

• (Linear algebra review)

• Convex optimization problems

• Nonconvex optimization problems

• Solving optimization problems

15
 Convex optimization problems

• An extremely powerful subset of all optimization problems

• Roughly speaking, allow for efficient (polynomial time) global

solutions

• Beautiful theory

• Lots of applications (but be careful, lots of problems we’d like to

solve are definitely not convex)

• At this point, a fairly mature technology (off-the-shelf libraries

for medium-sized problems)

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 Formal definition

• A convex optimization problem is a specialization of a

mathematical programming problem

minimize f (x)
x
subject to x ∈ C

where x ∈ Rn is optimization variable, f : Rn → R is a convex

function and feasible region C is a convex set

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 Convex sets
• A set C is convex if, for a x, y ∈ C and θ ∈ [0, 1],

θx + (1 − θ)y ∈ C

Convex set Nonconvex set

• All of Rn : x, y ∈ Rn =⇒ θx + (1 − θ)y ∈ Rn

• Intervals: C = {x ∈ Rn : l ≤ x ≤ u} (elementwise inequality)

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• Linear inequalities: C = {x ∈ Rn : Ax ≤ b}, A ∈ Rm×n , b ∈ Rm
Proof:
x, y ∈ Rn ∈ C =⇒ Ax ≤ b, Ay ≤ b
=⇒ θAx ≤ θb, (1 − θ)Ay ≤ (1 − θ)b
=⇒ θAx + (1 − θ)Ay ≤ b
=⇒ A(θx + (1 − θ)y) ≤ b
=⇒ θx + (1 − θ)y ∈ C

• Linear equalities C = {x ∈ Rn : Ax = b}, A ∈ Rm×n , b ∈ Rm

Tm
• Intersection of convex sets: C = i=1 Ci for convex sets Ci ,
i = 1, . . . , m

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 Convex functions
• A function f : Rn → R is convex if, for any x, y ∈ Rn and
θ ∈ [0, 1],
f (θx + (1 − θ)y) ≤ θf (x) + (1 − θ)f (y)

(y, f (y))
(x, f (x))

• f is concave if −f is convex

• f is affine if f is convex and concave, must have form

f (x) = aT x + b
for a ∈ Rn , b ∈ R.
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 Testing for convexity
• Convex function must “curve upwards” everywhere

• For functions with scalar input f : R → R, equivalent to

condition that f 00 (x) ≥ 0, ∀x

• For vector-input functions, corresponding condition is that

∇2x f (x)  0
where ∇2x f (x) is the Hessian of f ,
∂ 2 f (x)
(∇2x f (x))ij =
∂xi ∂xj
and  0 denotes positive definiteness, the condition that for all
z ∈ Rn ,
z T ∇2x f (x) z ≥ 0

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 Examples
• Exponential: f (x) = exp(ax), [f 00 (x) = a2 exp(ax) ≥ 0∀x]

• Negative logarithm: f (x) = −log(x), [f 00 (x) = 1/x2 ≥ 0∀x]

• Squared Euclidean distance: f (x) = xT x [After some

derivations, you’ll find that ∇2x f (x) = I, ∀x, which is positive
semidefinite since z T Iz = z T z ≥ 0]
√
• Euclidean distance: f (x) = kxk2 = xT x

• Non-negative weighted sum of convex functions:

m
X
f (x) = wi fi (x)
i=1
where wi ≥ 0 and fi convex, ∀i = 1, . . . , m
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 √
• Negative square root: f (x) = − x convex for x ≥ 0

• Log-sum-exp: f (x) = log(ex1 + ex2 + . . . + exn )

• Maximum of convex functions:

m
f (x) = max fi (x)
i=1

where fi convex, ∀i = 1, . . . , m

• Composition of convex and affine function: if f (y) convex in y,

f (Ax − b) is convex in x

• Sublevel sets: for f convex, C = {x : f (x) ≤ c} is a convex set

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 Convex optimization problems (again)

• Using sublevel sets property, it’s more common to write generic

convex optimization problems as

minimize f (x)
x
subject to gi (x) ≤ 0 i = 1, . . . , m
hi (x) = 0 i = 1, . . . , p

where f (objective) is convex, gi ’s (inequality constraints) are

convex, and hi ’s (equality constraints) are affine

• Key property of convex optimization problems: all local

solutions are global solutions

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• Definition: a point x is globally optimal if x is feasible and
there is no feasible y such that f (y) < f (x)

• Definition: a point x is locally optimal if x is feasible and there

exists some R > 0 such that for all feasible y with that
kx − yk2 ≤ R, f (x) ≤ f (y)

• Theorem: for a convex optimization problem, all locally optimal

points are globally optimal

Proof (by contradiction): Suppose there exists feasible y such

that f (y) < f (x). Pick the point
R
z = θx + (1 − θ)y, θ = 1 − .
2kx − yk2

We will show kx − zk2 < R, z is feasible, and f (z) < f (x),

contradicting local optimality.
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Proof (cont)

  
R R
kx − zk2 = x − 1− x+ y
2kx − yk2 2kx − yk2 2
R
= (x − y) = R/2 < R
2kx − yk2 2

Furthermore, by convexity of feasible set, z is feasible. This shows

all the points above, contradicting the supposition that there was a
non-local feasible y with f (y) < f (x).

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 Example: least-squares

• General (potentially multi-variable) least-squares problems is

given by
minimize kAx − bk22
x

for optimization variable x ∈ Rn , data matrices A ∈ Rm×n ,

b ∈ Rm , and where kyk22 is the `2 norm of vector y ∈ Rn is
m
X
kyk22 T
=y y= yi2 .
i=1

• A convex optimization problem (why?)

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 Example: Weber point

• Weber point in n dimensions

m
X
minimize kx − ai k2
x
i=1

where x ∈ Rn is optimization variable and a1 , . . . , am are

problem data.

• A convex optimization problem (why?)

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 Example: linear programming
• General form of a linear program

minimize cT x
x
subject to Ax = b
Fx ≤ g

where x ∈ Rn is optimization variable, A ∈ Rm×n , b ∈ Rm ,

F ∈ Rp×n , g ∈ Rp are problem data

• You may have also seen this with just the inequality constraint
x ≥ 0 (these are equivalent, why?)

• A convex problem (affine objective, convex constraints)

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 Example: quadratic programming

• General form of quadratic program

minimize xT Qx + rT x
x
subject to Ax = b
Fx ≤ g

where x ∈ Rn is optimization variable, A ∈ Rm×n , b ∈ Rm ,

F ∈ Rp×n , g ∈ Rp are problem data

• A convex problem if Q is semidefinite

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 Overview
• Introduction to mathematical programming problems

• Applications

• Classification of optimization problems

• (Linear algebra review)

• Convex optimization problems

• Nonconvex optimization problems

• Solving optimization problems

31
 Nonconvex problems

• Any optimization problem

minimize f (x)
x
subject to gi (x) ≤ 0 i = 1, . . . , m
hi (x) = 0 i = 1, . . . , p

where f or any gi not convex, any hi not affine, is a nonconvex

problem

• Two classes of approaches for solving non-convex problems:

local and global

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• Local methods: Given some initial point x0 , repeatedly search
“nearby” points until finding a (feasible) solution x̂ that is
better than all it’s nearby points

– Typically, same approximate computational complexity as convex

methods (often just use convex methods directly)

– Can fail to find any feasible solution at all

• Global methods: Find actual optimal solution x? over the

entire domain of feasible solution
– Typically, exponential time complexity

• Both are used extremely frequently in practice, for different

types of problems

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 Integer programming

• A class of nonconvex problems that we will look at in more

detail later:

minimize cT x
x
subject to Ax = b
Fx ≤ g
x∈Z

with optimization variable x, problem data A, b, F, g as in linear

programming

• A nonconvex problem (why?)

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 Overview
• Introduction to mathematical programming problems

• Applications

• Classification of optimization problems

• (Linear algebra review)

• Convex optimization problems

• Nonconvex optimization problems

• Solving optimization problems

35
 Solving optimization problems
• Starting with the unconstrained, one dimensional case

f (x)

• To find minimum point x? , we can look at the derivative of the

function f 0 (x): any location where f 0 (x) = 0 will be a “flat”
point in the function

• For convex problems, this is guaranteed to be a minimum

(instead of a maximum)
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• Generalization for multivariate function f : Rn → R: the
gradient of f must be zero

∇x f (x) = 0

• For f defined as above, gradient is a n-dimensional vector

containing partial derivatives with respect to each dimension

∂f (x)
(∇x f (x))i =
∂xi

• Important: only a sufficient condition for unconstrained

optimization

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 How do we find ∇x f (x) = 0?

• Direct solution: Analytically compute ∇x f (x) and set resulting

equation to zero

– Example: quadratic function

1
f (x) = xT Qx+rT x =⇒ ∇x f (x) = 2Qx+r =⇒ x? = − Q−1 r
2
for Q ∈ Rn×n , r ∈ Rn

– Will be a minimum assuming Q is positive definite

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• Gradient descent: Take small steps in the direction of the
current (negative) gradient

– Intuition: negative gradient of a function always points

“downhill” (actually points downhill in the steepest possible
direction, for multivariate function)

f (x) f ′(x0)

x x0

– Repeat: x ← x − α∇x f (x) where α ∈ R > 0 is a step size

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• Newton’s method: Use root-finding algorithm to find solution
to (nonlinear) equation ∇x f (x) = 0
– Newton’s method: given g : R → R, find g(x) = 0 by iteration

f (x)
x←x−
f 0 (x)

– Multivariate generalization for finding ∇x f (x) = 0

x ← x − (∇2x f (x))−1 ∇x f (x)

– Each iteration is more expensive than gradient descent, but can

converge to numerical precision much faster

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 Constrained optimization
• Now consider problem with constraints

minimize f (x)
x
subject to gi (x) ≤ 0 i = 1, . . . , m

• Projected gradient: if we can come up with an “easy”

projection operator P(x) such that for any x, P(x) returns
“closest” feasible point

x ← P(x − α∇x f (x))

– Example C = x ≥ 0,

P(x) = max{x, 0} (elementwise)

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• Barrier method: Approximate problem via unconstrained
optimization
m
X
minimize f (x) − t log(−gi (x))
x
i=1

as t → 0, this approaches original problem

– Can quickly lead to numerical instability, requires a lot of care to

get right

– Equality constraints need to be handled separately

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 Practically solving optimization problems

• The good news: for many classes of optimization problems,

people have already done all the “hard work” of developing
numerical algorithms

• A wide range of tools that can take optimization problems in

“natural” forms and compute a solution

• Some well-known libraries: CVX (MATLAB), YALMIP

(MATLAB), AMPL (custom language), GAMS (custom
language)

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 cvxpy

• We’ll be using a relative newcomer to the game: cvxpy

([Link]

• Python library for specifying and solving convex optimization

problems

• Very much “alpha” software, under active development

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• Constrained Weber point, given ai ∈ R2 , i = 1, . . . , m
m
X
minimize kx − ai k2 , subject to x1 + x2 = 0
x
i=1

• cvxpy code

import cvxpy as cp
import cvxopt

n = 2
m = 10
A = [Link](n,m)

x = [Link](n)
f = sum([[Link](x - A[:,i],2) for i in range(m)])
constraints = [sum(x) == 0]
result = [Link]([Link](f), constraints).solve()
print [Link]

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 Take home points

• Optimization (and formulating AI tasks as optimization

problems) has been one of the primary themes in AI of the past
15 years

• Convex optimization problems are a useful (though restricted)

subset that can be solved efficiently and which still find a huge
number of applications

• Many algorithms for solving optimization problems, but a lot of

the “hard work” has been done by freely available libraries

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