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I can't find in the documentation the list of methods available to NMinimize[]. Is there a way to get this? The NMinimize page in Documentation Center mentions only Method -> "DifferentialEvolution".

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    $\begingroup$ If you click on "Details and Options" you'll see the whole list. $\endgroup$
    – b.gates.you.know.what
    Commented Nov 6, 2013 at 11:25
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    $\begingroup$ Indeed, the last bullet of that sections reads: Possible settings for the Method option include "NelderMead", "DifferentialEvolution", "SimulatedAnnealing", and "RandomSearch". I note that it uses the tantalizing words "possible" and "includes", suggesting there might be many more settings. $\endgroup$
    – Sjoerd C. de Vries
    Commented Nov 6, 2013 at 11:29
  • $\begingroup$ Yes, it is not very clear. I have also found on the page tutorial/ConstrainedOptimizationGlobalNumerical the following line: NMinimize and NMaximize have several optimization methods available: Automatic, "DifferentialEvolution", "NelderMead", "RandomSearch", and "SimulatedAnnealing". I assumed there could be more methods available. $\endgroup$
    – shrx
    Commented Nov 6, 2013 at 11:31
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    $\begingroup$ An other question would be: Is it possible to use something like foo::Method in order to know the different methods available? $\endgroup$
    – Öskå
    Commented Nov 6, 2013 at 11:44
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    $\begingroup$ Voting to reopen. Evidently the docs aren't enough for this one $\endgroup$
    – Dr. belisarius
    Commented Aug 25, 2015 at 3:28

1 Answer 1

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The complete list of possible methods is given by Optimization`NMinimizeDump`$Methods:

Optimization`NMinimizeDump`$Methods
 (* -> {Automatic, DifferentialEvolution, NelderMead, 
        SimulatedAnnealing, RandomSearch, NonlinearInteriorPoint} *)

As you can see, there is one undocumented method: NonlinearInteriorPoint. The probable reason for its being undocumented is that by itself it is not very effective as a global minimizer, so it is used instead as a postprocessing step for the other methods in order to ensure that constraints are properly enforced.

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  • $\begingroup$ But what is the default method used when no method is specified? $\endgroup$
    – umby
    Commented Apr 23 at 11:27

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