NEOS Interfaces to PATHNLP

Sample Submissions
WWW Form - XML-RPC

PATHNLP

The NEOS Server offers PATHNLP for the solution of nonlinearly constrained optimization problems. Problems can be submitted to PATHNLP on the NEOS server in GAMS format.

PATHNLP is a solver for nonlinear programming (NLP) problems. PATHNLP finds stationary points for nonlinear programs by internally constructing the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) system of first-order optimality conditions and solving this system using the PATH Solver for complementarity problems. The solution to the original NLP is extracted from the KKT solution and returned to GAMS. All of this takes place automatically - no special syntax or user reformulation is required.

Typically, PATHNLP works very well for convex models. It also has a comparative advantage on models whose solution via reduced gradient methods results in a large number of superbasic variables, since the PATH solver won't construct a dense reduced Hessian in the space of the superbasic variables as reduced gradient solvers do. For nonconvex models, however, PATHNLP is not as robust as the reduced gradient methods.

Algorithmic details also can be found in reports by the original developers of PATH: Steven Dirkse, Michael Ferris, and Todd Munson. Documentation for PATHNLP is available on the GAMS/PATHNLP webpage.


Using the NEOS Server for PATHNLP/GAMS


The user must submit a model in GAMS format to solve an optimization problem. For security purposes, the model submitted must adhere to the following conventions:

If you are unfamiliar with GAMS, the GAMS Documentation includes a GAMS Tutorial and User's Guide. Examples of models in GAMS format can be found in the GAMS model library.

By default, the NEOS Server limits the amount of output generated in the listing file by turning off the symbol and unique element list, symbol cross references, and restricting the rows and columns listed to zero. This behavior can be changed by specifying the appropriate options in the model file. See the documentation on GAMS output for further information.

You may optionally submit an options file if you wish to override the default parameter settings for the solver. Currently, the NEOS Server can only use optfile=1 with GAMS input. Therefore, any model that specifies a different options file will not work as intended.

Web Submission Form
Model File
Upload the GAMS model file.
Options File
The solver options file is optional. If provided, the statement <modelname>.optfile = 1 ; is required before the solve statement in your model file. Only optfile = 1 is supported, however, options also may be specified within the model input file (see the GAMS documentation).
Parameters File
A secondary parameters file may be uploaded to NEOS. This file is optional. Note that some settings are overwritten by NEOS default settings. (See GAMS Call and CL Parameters for more details.)
GDX File
Optional GDX file for inputs. This file will be renamed to "in.gdx". The model must include "$GDXIN in.gdx" to load this file.
GAMS Restart File
A GAMS restart file can be submitted to NEOS. (See GAMS Save and Restart for more details.)
Return GDX output
Check the box to have the solver return a compressed GDX file that contains all of the symbols in the model.
Return GAMS listing file
Check the box to include the GAMS listing file in returned output.
Return log file
If the box is checked, the log file containing information generated by the solver will be returned with the output.
Comments
You may enter any additional comments here, for example, to identify the data for your own information. These comments will be returned with your results.
Additional Settings


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Please do not click the 'Submit to NEOS' button more than once.