How to express it?

Nonconvex
Apr 5, 2022
J

1

q(t) in the expression is the variable, and the whole expression is convex, but when I put it in CVX, it tells me that the content in the red box is “Disciplined convex programming error: Illegal operation: pow_p( {convex}, {-1} )”. How do I represent this whole convex expression?

J

It is not convex on x>0. Consider a special case 1/log(1+1/(x^2)). When x->0, the second derivative < 0; When x->infinity, the second derivative > 0.

M

@jackfsuia Edit: My previous calculation. was mistaken. This expression is neither convex nor concave in general.

J
Replying to #2

Thanks a lot for your replying! But the whole expression is indeed a convex one. And my expression is different from the special form that you give. Here is the graph of my expression

J
Replying to #3

Yes! It is indeed convex, but I do not know how to handle the error of the red box in my expression, which is displayed in the following
3

J
Replying to #4

\frac{\partial ^2\frac{1}{\log \left(\frac{C}{x^2}+1\right)}}{\partial x^2}=-\frac{2 C \left(\left(C+3 x^2\right) \log \left(\frac{C}{x^2}+1\right)-4 C\right)}{x^2 \left(C+x^2\right)^2 \log ^3\left(\frac{C}{x^2}+1\right)}. Let’s consider -4 C + (C + 3 x^2) Log(1 + C/x^2). When x->0, the limit is + infinity.When x->infinity, the limit is -C.

M

2ns derivative of 1/log(1+1/x^2); at x = 0.1 is -1.503. That is a special case of the expression.

J
Replying to #8


This is the second derivative of my expression and it is >0 at any point. The term in the expression is like (x-a)^2+b but not simple x^2, so the second derivative is different.

J
Replying to #6

I mean it is like (x-a)^2+b but not simple x^2, so the second derivative is different.
For this function,
11
when x->any point, second derivative is always > 0
here is the second derivative of my expression.

M

You need to clarify what is the most general form of expression you need to handle.

if q(t) is a scalar, and H = 0, the expression is not convex, but appears to be convex for H^2 > 0.

If q(t) is a vector of length >= 2 and H = 0, it is neither convex nor concave, but appears to be convex if H > 0.

Edit: Note that I substantively edited the last sentence.`.

J
Replying to #11

Thank you very much ! q(t) is indeed a a vector of length >= 2.

M

Let me correct that ( I just edited my preceding post). I think it may be convex for H > 0, even for vector q(t). It is neither convex nor concave when H = 0.

J
Replying to #13

So even if it is convex, we do not have a way to express it in cvx.

M

You’ll have to wait to see whether someone comes along who can do it.

J
Replying to #15

OK!Thank you very much for answering so many questions for me!

J
Replying to #16

\frac{\partial ^2\frac{1}{\log \left(\frac{1}{b+x^2}+1\right)}}{\partial x^2}=\frac{2 \left(b^2-2 b x^2+b-3 x^4-x^2\right) \log \left(\frac{1}{b+x^2}+1\right)+8 x^2}{\left(b+x^2\right)^2 \left(b+x^2+1\right)^2 \log ^3\left(\frac{1}{b+x^2}+1\right)}. Can anyone prove \left(b^2-2 b x^2+b-3 x^4-x^2\right) \log \left(\frac{1}{b+x^2}+1\right)+4 x^2>0 for all x or prove the original function is convex? because this is very important for the trajectory design of moving basestation in wireless communication domain, which I believe the poster is working on.

J
Replying to #11

Mr.Stone, could you possibly prove its convexity? Any relavant guidance or idea will be appreciated.

J
Replying to #16

Hi, Jason, could you possibly prove its convexity?

J
Replying to #19

For this,
66
we can prove mathematically that it’s positive or negative. But, it’s a little bit complicated, so I get it by drawing it, and it’s positive when any b>0.