operator '*' is not supported for operands of type 'function_handle'.

So I am trying to maximize a function. In order to maximze a function f(x), I have to minimize the function -f(x).

I have tried to do this but I get the errors as such.

Any help would be appreciated.

I am using the optimize task from the live script.

Thanks

Answer 1

[John D'Errico]

This question (or the equivalent) gets asked over and over again. I can understand where things get confusing. For example:

f = @(x) x^2;
whos f

  Name      Size            Bytes  Class              Attributes

  f         1x1                32  function_handle              

f is a function handle. We cannot do things like multiply it by -1, because it is not a number. Just the name of a function. So how do we negate it? We create a NEW function that takes the output of f, and negates THAT.

minusf = @(x) -f(x);
f(5)

ans = 25

minusf(5)

ans = -25

The new function handle minusf does exactly what you need.

[Avikash Chand]

I got around that error by multiplying -1 to initial function. so then the objfcn was as follows

This should be fine I think?