The link provided by charliebabbage-ga above takes me to an online
calculator/applet (Java based) for solving a 3 by 3 nonlinear system,
not as far as I can see any Excel related material.
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Excel is bundled with the Solver Add-in, but this just isn't in the
default installation. For instructions on installation, see here:
[Load the Solver Add-in (Excel 2003 Assistance/MS Office Online]
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HP011277251033.aspx
I've used the Solver Add-in to solve nonlinear systems and to optimize
nonlinear objective functions. It's largely a "black box" approach
with its own heuristics for choosing robust vs. quasi-Newton methods.
It's definitely worth installing and spending a bit of time learning
how to use before moving on to other options.
The Solver Add-in is supplied for Excel by Frontline Systems, Inc. as
an introductory version of their Premium Solver Platform:
[Solver Support - FAQs and Hints]
http://www.solver.com/suppfaqhint.htm
Check out the Solver Tutorial linked in the navigation sidebar on the
left side of this page.
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To assure a pure Newton-Raphson algorithm is being used means taking
symbolic derivatives and evaluating them. It's hard to guess how
much, if any, of that a plug-in for Excel tackles, so be aware of the
trade-off between convenience and knowing what's going on "under the
hood".
Before resorting to "real" FORTRAN/C++ coding, or even scripting
languages like Python or Perl, I would consider using a high-level
interactive numerical programming environment such as MLab,
Mathematica, or Matlab. Encourage me if you'd like some
recommendations along those lines.
regards, mathtalk-ga |
