Optimizing math functions

[Lawrence D'Oliveiro]

In message <0033dace$0$9725$c3e8da3 at news.astraweb.com>, Steven D'Aprano 
wrote:

> Minimizing functions of two variables is difficult, as a general rule.
> Nevertheless, there are tools for doing so. Check out SciPy.

The name "Marquadt-Levenberg" comes to mind. As I recall, it involved 
finding zeroes of the various partial derivatives.