Re: [Help-gsl] Re: (A newbie asks) How to program multidimensional root solver?

[John Pye]

Olumide wrote:
> John Pye wrote:
>> FWIW have you already been able to solve this equation system? Have
>> you tried with a tool like Excel Solver or ASCEND or Maxima or GAMS
>> first? Once you have shown that the equations solve and behave
>> nicely, you can try coding them up in low-level C code, but it
>> generally easier to use a higher-level tool first up. Perhaps you
>> already did this -- just checking.
>
> Thanks for replying, no I haven't. But I will. I've just downloaded
> Maxima, and ASCEND and I'm taking a closer look at them. Which of
> these two programs do you think is best for solving system on
> non-linear equations? BTW, I don't expecting an analytic solution. My
> equations don't look too friendly ... (nasty logs! :-) )
>
If you just want a numerical solution then try ASCEND or GAMS (or AMPL
or...). The advantage here is that you can enter the equations in a
fairly intuitive way and not have to worry about 'wiring it up' to the
solver. The Excel Solver (or even maybe the new Open Office 3.0b
Solver?) would be a good bet too. Maxima is really for getting analytic
solutions, although it might be possible to get numerical solutions as
well -- I'm not sure.

JP