[SciPy-user] Error in nonlinear least squares fit analysis

[Gael Varoquaux]

On Tue, Sep 16, 2008 at 12:06:32PM -0500, David Lonie wrote:
> a) fmin vs. leastsq:
> The method I wrote ended up using the fmin() function to minimize the
> error vector. What is the difference between fmin and leastsq? Is
> there an advantage to using either?

AFAIK, fmin is a scalar optimizer, where leastsq is a vector optimizer,
using an optimized algorithm to minimize the norm of a vector (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levenberg-Marquardt_algorithm ). Leastsq
will thus be more efficient on this problem set.

I am not terribly knowledgeable in this area, so I would appreciate being
corrected if I am talking nonsens.

Gaël