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Numerical experiments with variations of the Gauss-Newton algorithm for nonlinear least squares

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Abstract

In this paper, the classical Gauss-Newton method for the unconstrained least squares problem is modified by introducing a quasi-Newton approximation to the second-order term of the Hessian. Various quasi-Newton formulas are considered, and numerical experiments show that most of them are more efficient on large residual problems than the Gauss-Newton method and a general purpose minimization algorithm based upon the BFGS formula. A particular quasi-Newton formula is shown numerically to be superior. Further improvements are obtained by using a line search that exploits the special form of the function.

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Communicated by L. C. W. Dixon

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Spedicato, E., Vespucci, M.T. Numerical experiments with variations of the Gauss-Newton algorithm for nonlinear least squares. J Optim Theory Appl 57, 323–339 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00938543

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