Direct Search Methods: Then and Now
Abstract
We discuss direct search methods for unconstrained optimization. We give a modern perspective on this classical family of derivative-free algorithms, focusing on the development of direct search methods during their golden age from 1960 to 1971. We discuss how direct search methods are characterized by the absence of the construction of a model of the objective. We then consider a number of the classical direct search methods and discuss what research in the intervening years has uncovered about these algorithms. In particular, while the original direct search methods were consciously based on straightforward heuristics, more recent analysis bas shown that in most-but not all cases these heuristics actually suffice to ensure global convergence of at least one subsequence of the sequence of iterates to a first-order stationary point of the objective function.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 2000
- Accession Number
- ADA377394
Entities
People
- Michael W. Trosset
- Robert M. Lewis
- Virginia Torczon