Enhancing finite-difference based derivative-free optimization methods with machine learning

Fuente: arXiv
Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Taminiau, Timothé, Massart, Estelle, Grapiglia, Geovani Nunes
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
Materias:
Acceso en línea:
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
_version_ 1866909488076816384
author Taminiau, Timothé
Massart, Estelle
Grapiglia, Geovani Nunes
author_facet Taminiau, Timothé
Massart, Estelle
Grapiglia, Geovani Nunes
contents Derivative-Free Optimization (DFO) involves methods that rely solely on evaluations of the objective function. One of the earliest strategies for designing DFO methods is to adapt first-order methods by replacing gradients with finite-difference approximations. The execution of such methods generates a rich dataset about the objective function, including iterate points, function values, approximate gradients, and successful step sizes. In this work, we propose a simple auxiliary procedure to leverage this dataset and enhance the performance of finite-difference-based DFO methods. Specifically, our procedure trains a surrogate model using the available data and applies the gradient method with Armijo line search to the surrogate until it fails to ensure sufficient decrease in the true objective function, in which case we revert to the original algorithm and improve our surrogate based on the new available information. As a proof of concept, we integrate this procedure with the derivative-free method proposed in (Optim. Lett. 18: 195--213, 2024). Numerical results demonstrate significant performance improvements, particularly when the approximate gradients are also used to train the surrogates.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_07435
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Enhancing finite-difference based derivative-free optimization methods with machine learning
Taminiau, Timothé
Massart, Estelle
Grapiglia, Geovani Nunes
Optimization and Control
Derivative-Free Optimization (DFO) involves methods that rely solely on evaluations of the objective function. One of the earliest strategies for designing DFO methods is to adapt first-order methods by replacing gradients with finite-difference approximations. The execution of such methods generates a rich dataset about the objective function, including iterate points, function values, approximate gradients, and successful step sizes. In this work, we propose a simple auxiliary procedure to leverage this dataset and enhance the performance of finite-difference-based DFO methods. Specifically, our procedure trains a surrogate model using the available data and applies the gradient method with Armijo line search to the surrogate until it fails to ensure sufficient decrease in the true objective function, in which case we revert to the original algorithm and improve our surrogate based on the new available information. As a proof of concept, we integrate this procedure with the derivative-free method proposed in (Optim. Lett. 18: 195--213, 2024). Numerical results demonstrate significant performance improvements, particularly when the approximate gradients are also used to train the surrogates.
title Enhancing finite-difference based derivative-free optimization methods with machine learning
topic Optimization and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.07435