# Numerical optimization question

I need to solve the following optimization problem. \begin{aligned} \min_{\lambda_0,\lambda_1} & \sum_{t=1}^T\sum_{n\in\{4,8,12,16\}} \left(\frac{1}{n}A_n + \frac{1}{n}B_n^\top X_t + y_t^{(n)}\right)^2 \\ \text{s.t. }\\ & A_{n+1} = A_n + B_n^\top(\mu - \Sigma\lambda_0) + \frac{1}{2}B_n^\top\Sigma\Sigma^\top B_n, & n=1,\dots,16 \\ & B_{n+1} = (\Phi - \Sigma\lambda_1)^\top B_n - \begin{bmatrix} 1 \\ 0 \\ 0 \end{bmatrix}, & n=1,\dots,16 \\ & A_1 = 0, \qquad B_1 = -\begin{bmatrix} 1 \\ 0 \\ 0 \end{bmatrix}\\ \end{aligned} where $B_n$ is $3\times 1$, $A_n$ is a scalar and $\Phi,\mu, \Sigma,y_t^{(n)}, X_t, \;t=1,\dots,T$ are given. $\Phi,\Sigma$ are $3\times3$ and $\mu, X_t$ are $3\times1$.

Unknown variables are $\lambda_0$ which is $3\times1$ and $\lambda_1$ which is $3\times 3$.

I'm familiar with Matlab, Matematica, R. Which software can I use? Which functions? How do I program it, a Lagrangian with a many constraints? Is there other method of solving such problems?

• Ah, sorry, I missed that. At a first glance I thought the constraints were affine. Will delete comment momentarily. – copper.hat Mar 4 '13 at 19:59
• Is the evolution of some dynamical system? (I mean, something straightforward.) – copper.hat Mar 4 '13 at 20:00
• It is a dynamic system (affine term structure model from finance). The idea is to select two parameters $\lambda_0,\lambda_1$, so that the model fits data the best. – Affine Mar 4 '13 at 20:06
• Sometimes such problems can be formulated as an optimal control problem which may have simpler optimality characterizations... – copper.hat Mar 4 '13 at 20:25
• Just to double check: are $\lambda$ the only variables? – Dominique Mar 4 '13 at 21:36

Your problem is an "EQP" (an Equality-Constrained Quadratic Program). It has a convex quadratic objective and linear equality constraints, i.e., it has the general form $$\min_x \ c^T x + \tfrac{1}{2} x^T H x \quad \text{subject to} \ Ax=b,$$ where $H$ is a symmetric and positive semi-definite matrix. It turns out that solving EQPs is just a matter of linear algebra since any solution is a global minimizer and also solves the linear system $$\begin{bmatrix} H & A^T \\ A & 0 \end{bmatrix} \begin{bmatrix} x \\ y \end{bmatrix} = \begin{bmatrix} -c \\ b \end{bmatrix},$$ where $y$ is the vector of Lagrange multipliers associated to the equality constraints. The matrix of this system is symmetric and indefinite so in Matlab you can use ldl() to factorize it. If it's very large and/or very dense, you can also use minres() to solve the system. But judging from your post, a simple "backslash" might do.