Finding minimum point of a function - vb.net

Question

If I have a convex curve, and want to find the minimum point (x,y) using a for or while loop. I am thinking of something like
dim y as double
dim LastY as double = 0
for i = 0 to a large number
y=computefunction(i)
if lasty > y then exit for
next
how can I that minimum point? (x is always > 0 and integer)

Answer 1

Very Close
you just need to
dim y as double
dim smallestY as double = computefunction(0)
for i = 0 to aLargeNumber as integer
y=computefunction(i)
if smallestY > y then smallestY=y
next
'now that the loop has finished, smallestY should contain the lowest value of Y
If this code takes a long time to run, you could quite easily turn it into a multi-threaded loop using parallel.For - for example
dim y as Double
dim smallestY as double = computefunction(0)
Parallel.For(0, aLargeNumber, Sub(i As Integer)
y=computefunction(i)
if smallestY > y then smallestY=y
End Sub)
This would automatically create separate threads for each iteration of the loop.

Answer 2

For a sample function:
y = 0.01 * (x - 50) ^ 2 - 5
or properly written like this:
A minimum is mathematically obvious at x = 50 and y = -5, you can verify with google:
Below VB.NET console application, converted from python, finds a minimum at x=50.0000703584199, y=-4.9999999999505, which is correct for the specified tolerance of 0.0001:
Module Module1
Sub Main()
Dim result As Double = GoldenSectionSearch(AddressOf ComputeFunction, 0, 100)
Dim resultString As String = "x=" & result.ToString + ", y=" & ComputeFunction(result).ToString
Console.WriteLine(resultString) 'prints x=50.0000703584199, y=-4.9999999999505
End Sub
Function GoldenSectionSearch(f As Func(Of Double, Double), xStart As Double, xEnd As Double, Optional tol As Double = 0.0001) As Double
Dim gr As Double = (Math.Sqrt(5) - 1) / 2
Dim c As Double = xEnd - gr * (xEnd - xStart)
Dim d As Double = xStart + gr * (xEnd - xStart)
While Math.Abs(c - d) > tol
Dim fc As Double = f(c)
Dim fd As Double = f(d)
If fc < fd Then
xEnd = d
d = c
c = xEnd - gr * (xEnd - xStart)
Else
xStart = c
c = d
d = xStart + gr * (xEnd - xStart)
End If
End While
Return (xEnd + xStart) / 2
End Function
Function ComputeFunction(x As Double)
Return 0.01 * (x - 50) ^ 2 - 5
End Function
End Module
Side note: your initial attempt to find minimum is assuming a function is discrete, which is very unlikely in real life. What you would get with a simple for loop is a very rough estimate, and a long time to find it, as linear search is least efficient among other methods.