Index Key:  PHY057
Author:     hdog
Subject:    Least time paths
Text:       I am going to do a superquest project on least time paths given 
certain restraints such as the path a race car would take to minimize its time 
with its acceleration limited so that it does not skid.  (or a robotic arm 
moving some fragile object).

Response #:  1 of 1
Author:      Arthur Smith
Text:        The standard approach to "least time" problems like you mentioned 
is known as known as "constrained optimization".  I do not know a whole lot of 
good references, but there are a lot of computational books on optimization.  
This is also known as the  "nonlinear programming" problem - sort of a silly 
convention, but comes from the economics field, I think, where "linear 
programming" has been dominant for a long time.  There are actually a number 
of packages already out there for doing these problems.  You can find reviews 
of some of them in the literature...  I have used the IMSL "nconf" and "n0onf" 
routines (the first just requires the function and constraints, the second 
requires derivatives also).  See if the machine you are running on has IMSL - 
or look for other packages out there.  I may have something you could use, if 
you cannot find anything that works.