Related papers: Minimizing a low-dimensional convex function over …
We consider the convex optimization problem P: min {f(x): x in K} where "f" is convex continuously differentiable, and K is a compact convex set in Rn with representation {x: g_j(x) >=0, j=1,;;,m} for some continuously differentiable…
We propose faster methods for unconstrained optimization of \emph{structured convex quartics}, which are convex functions of the form \begin{equation*} f(x) = c^\top x + x^\top \mathbf{G} x + \mathbf{T}[x,x,x] + \frac{1}{24} \mathopen\|…
The Frank-Wolfe (FW) method, which implements efficient linear oracles that minimize linear approximations of the objective function over a fixed compact convex set, has recently received much attention in the optimization and machine…
We develop a family of accelerated stochastic algorithms that minimize sums of convex functions. Our algorithms improve upon the fastest running time for empirical risk minimization (ERM), and in particular linear least-squares regression,…
A general lower bound is developed for the minimax risk when estimating an arbitrary functional. The bound is based on testing two composite hypotheses and is shown to be effective in estimating the nonsmooth functional…
In this paper, we present a rigorous framework for rational minimax approximation of matrix-valued functions that generalizes classical scalar approximation theory. Given sampled data $\{(x_\ell, {F}(x_\ell))\}_{\ell=1}^m$ where…
This work is concerned with the convex analysis of functions defined on (not necessarily finite-dimensional) Hilbert spaces whose values depend solely on a certain ``spectrum'' of the arguments, a class we term ``spectral functions.'' We…
Many fundamental problems in machine learning can be formulated by the convex program \[ \min_{\theta\in R^d}\ \sum_{i=1}^{n}f_{i}(\theta), \] where each $f_i$ is a convex, Lipschitz function supported on a subset of $d_i$ coordinates of…
In this paper, we consider solving a class of convex optimization problem which minimizes the sum of three convex functions $f(x)+g(x)+h(Bx)$, where $f(x)$ is differentiable with a Lipschitz continuous gradient, $g(x)$ and $h(x)$ have a…
Inverse optimization (Inverse optimal control) is the task of imputing a cost function such that given test points (trajectories) are (nearly) optimal with respect to the discovered cost. Prior methods in inverse optimization assume that…
This paper extends the algorithm schemes proposed in \cite{Nesterov2007a} and \cite{Nesterov2007b} to the minimization of the sum of a composite objective function and a convex function. Two proximal point-type schemes are provided and…
This work investigates the properties of the proximity operator for quasar-convex functions and establishes the convergence of the proximal point algorithm to a global minimizer with a particular focus on its convergence rate. In…
In this manuscript, we propose a general proximal quasi-Newton method tailored for nonconvex and nonsmooth optimization problems, where we do not require the sequence of the variable metric (or Hessian approximation) to be uniformly bounded…
This work considers the nonconvex, nonsmooth problem of minimizing a composite objective of the form $f(g(x))+h(x)$ where the inner mapping $g$ is a smooth finite summation or expectation amenable to variance reduction. In such settings,…
Most commonly used \emph{adaptive} algorithms for univariate real-valued function approximation and global minimization lack theoretical guarantees. Our new locally adaptive algorithms are guaranteed to provide answers that satisfy a…
A real valued function $f$ defined on a convex $K$ is anemconvex function iff it satisfies $$ f((x+y)/2) \le (f(x)+f(y))/2 + 1. $$ A thorough study of approximately convex functions is made. The principal results are a sharp universal upper…
We provide sufficient conditions for quantitative convergence of the iterates of proximal splitting algorithms for minimizing a sum of functions on a metric space. The theory does not assume that the functions have common minima, nor does…
This paper is concerned with minimizing a sum of rational functions over a compact set of high-dimension. Our approach relies on the second Lasserre's hierarchy (also known as the upper bounds hierarchy) formulated on the pushforward…
We consider the following basic problem: given an $n$-variate degree-$d$ homogeneous polynomial $f$ with real coefficients, compute a unit vector $x \in \mathbb{R}^n$ that maximizes $|f(x)|$. Besides its fundamental nature, this problem…
We show that $C^0$-fine approximation of convex functions by smooth (or real analytic) convex functions on $\R^d$ is possible in general if and only if $d=1$. Nevertheless, for $d\geq 2$ we give a characterization of the class of convex…