Basic Types
The basic building block of Convex.jl is called an expression, which can represent a variable, a constant, or a function of another expression. We discuss each kind of expression in turn.
Variables
The simplest kind of expression in Convex.jl is a variable. Variables in Convex.jl are declared using the Variable
keyword, along with the dimensions of the variable.
# Scalar variable
x = Variable()
# Column vector variable
x = Variable(5)
# Matrix variable
x = Variable(4, 6)
Variables may also be declared as having special properties, such as being
- (elementwise) positive:
x = Variable(4, Positive())
- (elementwise) negative:
x = Variable(4, Negative())
- integral:
x = Variable(4, IntVar)
- binary:
x = Variable(4, BinVar)
- (for a matrix) being symmetric, with nonnegative eigenvalues (that is, positive semidefinite):
z = Semidefinite(4)
The order of the arguments is the size, the sign, and then the Convex.VarType
(that is, integer, binary, or continuous), and any may be omitted to use the default. The current value of a variable x
can be accessed with evaluate(x)
. After solve!
ing a problem, the value of each variable used in the problem is set to its optimal value.
See also Custom Variable Types for how to implement your own variable types.
Constants
Numbers, vectors, and matrices present in the Julia environment are wrapped automatically into a Constant
expression when used in a Convex.jl expression.
Expressions
Expressions in Convex.jl are formed by applying any atom (mathematical function defined in Convex.jl) to variables, constants, and other expressions. For a list of these functions, see Supported operations. Atoms are applied to expressions using operator overloading. For example, 2+2
calls Julia's built-in addition operator, while 2+x
calls the Convex.jl addition method and returns a Convex.jl expression. Many of the useful language features in Julia, such as arithmetic, array indexing, and matrix transpose are overloaded in Convex.jl so they may be used with variables and expressions just as they are used with native Julia types.
Expressions that are created must be DCP-compliant. More information on DCP can be found here. :
x = Variable(5)
# The following are all expressions
y = sum(x)
z = 4 * x + y
z_1 = z[1]
Convex.jl allows the values of the expressions to be evaluated directly.
x = Variable()
y = Variable()
z = Variable()
expr = x + y + z
problem = minimize(expr, x >= 1, y >= x, 4 * z >= y)
solve!(problem, SCS.Optimizer)
# Once the problem is solved, we can call evaluate() on expr:
evaluate(expr)
Constraints
Constraints in Convex.jl are declared using the standard comparison operators <=
, >=
, and ==
. They specify relations that must hold between two expressions. Convex.jl does not distinguish between strict and non-strict inequality constraints.
x = Variable(5, 5)
# Equality constraint
constraint = x == 0
# Inequality constraint
constraint = x >= 1
Note that constraints apply elementwise automatically; that is, x >= 1
means that x[i, j] >= 1
for i in 1:5
and j in 1:5
. Consequently, broadcasting should not be used to constrain arrays, that is, use x >= y
instead of x .>= y
.
Matrices can also be constrained to be positive semidefinite.
x = Variable(3, 3)
y = Variable(3, 1)
z = Variable()
# constrain [x y; y' z] to be positive semidefinite
constraint = isposdef([x y; y' z])
# or equivalently,
constraint = ([x y; y' z] ⪰ 0)
Constraints can also be added to variables after their construction, to automatically apply constraints to any problem which uses the variable. For example,
x = Variable(3)
add_constraint!(x, sum(x) == 1)
Now, in any problem in which x
is used, the constraint sum(x) == 1
will be added.
Objective
The objective of the problem is a scalar expression to be maximized or minimized by using maximize
or minimize
respectively. Feasibility problems can be expressed by either giving a constant as the objective, or using problem = satisfy(constraints)
.
Problem
A problem in Convex.jl consists of a sense (minimize, maximize, or satisfy), an objective (an expression to which the sense verb is to be applied), and zero or more constraints that must be satisfied at the solution. Problems may be constructed as
problem = minimize(objective, constraints)
# or
problem = maximize(objective, constraints)
# or
problem = satisfy(constraints)
Constraints can be added at any time before the problem is solved.
# No constraints given
problem = minimize(objective)
# Add some constraint
problem.constraints += constraint
# Add many more constraints
problem.constraints += [constraint1, constraint2, ...]
A problem can be solved by calling solve!
solve!(problem, solver)
passing a solver such as SCS.Optimizer()
from the package SCS
as the second argument.
After the problem is solved, problem.status
records the status returned by the optimization solver, and problem.optval
will record the optimum value of the problem. The optimal value for each variable x
participating in the problem can be found in evaluate(x)
. The optimal value of an expression can be found by calling the evaluate()
function on the expression as follows: evaluate(expr)
.