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I am having trouble with maximizing a function I am interested in. Below is the code I am using. 

NMaximize[{(p^2)^alpha + ((c - p)^2)^alpha + (1 - (c - p)^2 - p^2)^alpha, 
  {c/2 - Sqrt[2 - c^2]/2 < p, p < c/2 + Sqrt[2 - c^2]/2, c == 1.2, alpha == 0.7}}, {p}]

I get the following error:

NMaximize::bcons: "The following constraints are not valid: {alpha == 0.7, c == 1.2, c/2 - Sqrt[2 - c^2]/2 < p, p < c/2 + Sqrt[2 - c^2]/2}. Constraints should be equalities, inequalities, or domain specifications involving the variables."

Why is this happening?

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  • $\begingroup$ c = 1.2; alpha = 0.7; NMaximize[ {(p^2)^alpha + ((c - p)^2)^alpha + (1 - (c - p)^2 - p^2)^ alpha, {c/2 - Sqrt[2 - c^2]/2 < p, p < c/2 + Sqrt[2 - c^2]/2}}, {p}] $\endgroup$
    – Dr. belisarius
    Commented Feb 23, 2014 at 21:41
  • $\begingroup$ Plot[(p^2)^alpha + ((c - p)^2)^alpha + (1 - (c - p)^2 - p^2)^alpha, {p, 0, 1}] $\endgroup$
    – Dr. belisarius
    Commented Feb 23, 2014 at 21:43
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for the solution. However, I am still interested as to why my original formulation did not work. $\endgroup$
    – gandalfthegreat
    Commented Feb 23, 2014 at 22:11

1 Answer 1

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Your formulation doesn't work because your constraints don't involve variables. The preferred solution was posted as a comment to your question, but for making your original one work you could do:

NMaximize[{(p^2)^alpha + ((c - p)^2)^alpha + (1 - (c - p)^2 - p^2)^
    alpha, {c/2 - Sqrt[2 - c^2]/2 < p, p < c/2 + Sqrt[2 - c^2]/2, 
   c == 1.2, alpha == 0.7}}, {p, c, alpha}]
(*
  {1.38845, {p -> 0.6, c -> 1.2, alpha -> 0.7}}
*)
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