Reference¶

Quick Summary¶

These methods and properties you will probably use a lot:

 Minuit(fcn, *args, grad, name, **kwds) Function minimizer and error computer. Minuit.migrad(ncall, iterate) Run Migrad minimization. Minuit.hesse(ncall) Run HESSE algorithm to compute asymptotic errors. Minuit.minos(*parameters, cl, ncall) Run Minos algorithm to compute confidence intervals. Minuit.values Access parameter values via an array-like view. Minuit.errors Access parameter parabolic errors via an array-like view. Minuit.merrors Return a dict-like with Minos data objects. Minuit.fixed Access whether parameters are fixed via an array-like view. Minuit.limits Access parameter limits via a array-like view. Minuit.covariance Return covariance matrix. Minuit.valid Return True if the function minimum is valid. Minuit.accurate Return True if the covariance matrix is accurate. Minuit.fval Get function value at minimum. Minuit.nfit Get number of fitted parameters (fixed parameters not counted). Minuit.mnprofile(vname, *, size, bound, …) Get Minos profile over a specified interval. Minuit.draw_mnprofile(vname, *, size, bound, …) Draw Minos profile over a specified interval (requires matplotlib).

Minuit¶

class iminuit.Minuit(fcn: Callable, *args, grad: Optional[Callable] = None, name: Optional[Sequence[str]] = None, **kwds)

Function minimizer and error computer.

Initialize Minuit object.

This does not start the minimization or perform any other work yet. Algorithms are started by calling the corresponding methods.

Parameters: fcn – Function to minimize. See notes for details on what kind of functions are accepted. *args – Starting values for the minimization as positional arguments. See notes for details on how to set starting values. grad – Function that calculates the gradient and returns an iterable object with one entry for each parameter, which is the derivative for that parameter. If None (default), Minuit will calculate the gradient numerically. name – If it is set, it overrides iminuit’s function signature detection. **kwds – Starting values for the minimization as keyword arguments. See notes for details on how to set starting values.

Notes

Accepted callables

Minuit reads the function signature of fcn to detect the number and names of the function parameters. Two kinds of function signatures are understood.

1. Function with positional arguments.

The function has positional arguments, one for each fit parameter. Example:

def fcn(a, b, c): ...


The parameters a, b, c must accept a real number.

iminuit automatically detects the parameters names in this case. More information about how the function signature is detected can be found in iminuit.util.describe().

2. Function with arguments passed as a single Numpy array.

The function has a single argument which is a Numpy array. Example:

def fcn_np(x): ...


To use this form, starting values need to be passed to Minuit in form as an array-like type, e.g. a numpy array, tuple or list. For more details, see “Parameter Keyword Arguments” further down.

In some cases, the detection fails, for example for a function like this:

def difficult_fcn(*args): ...


To use such a function, set name.

Parameter initialization

Initial values for the minimization can be set with positional arguments or via keywords. This is best explained through an example:

def fcn(x, y):
return (x - 2) ** 2 + (y - 3) ** 2


The following ways of passing starting values are equivalent:

Minuit(fcn, x=1, y=2)
Minuit(fcn, y=2, x=1) # order is irrelevant when keywords are used ...
Minuit(fcn, 1, 2)     # ... but here the order matters


Positional arguments can also be used if the function has no signature:

def fcn_no_sig(*args):
# ...

Minuit(fcn_no_sig, 1, 2)


If the arguments are explicitly named with the name keyword described further below, keywords can be used for initialization:

Minuit(fcn_no_sig, x=1, y=2, name=("x", "y"))  # this also works


If the function accepts a single Numpy array, then the initial values must be passed as a single array-like object:

def fcn_np(x):
return (x[0] - 2) ** 2 + (x[1] - 3) ** 2

Minuit(fcn_np, (1, 2))


Setting the values with keywords is not possible in this case. Minuit deduces the number of parameters from the length of the initialization sequence.

LEAST_SQUARES = 1.0

Set errordef to this constant for a least-squares cost function.

LIKELIHOOD = 0.5

Set errordef to this constant for a negative log-likelihood function.

accurate

Return True if the covariance matrix is accurate.

This is an alias for iminuit.util.FMin.has_accurate_covar.

contour(x: str, y: str, *, size: int = 50, bound: Union[int, Sequence[Sequence[int]]] = 2, subtract_min: bool = False) → Tuple[Sequence[float], Sequence[float], Sequence[Sequence[float]]]

Get a 2D contour of the function around the minimum.

It computes the contour via a function scan over two parameters, while keeping all other parameters fixed. The related mncontour() works differently: for each pair of parameter values in the scan, it minimises the function with the respect to all other parameters.

This method is useful to inspect the function near the minimum to detect issues (the contours should look smooth). It is not a confidence region unless the function only has two parameters. Use mncontour() to compute confidence regions.

Parameters: x – First parameter for scan. y – Second parameter for scan. size – Number of scanning points (Default: 50). bound – If bound is 2x2 array, [[v1min,v1max],[v2min,v2max]]. If bound is a number, it specifies how many $$\sigma$$ symmetrically from minimum (minimum+- bound*:math:sigma). (Default: 2). subtract_min – Subtract minimum from return values (Default: False). x (array of float) – Parameter values of first parameter. y (array of float) – Parameter values of second parameter. fval (2D array of float) – Function values.
covariance

Return covariance matrix.

The square-root of the diagonal elements of the covariance matrix correspond to a standard deviation for each parameter with 68 % coverage probability in the asymptotic limit (large samples). To get k standard deviations, multiply the covariance matrix with k^2.

The submatrix formed by two parameters describes an ellipse. The asymptotic coverage probabilty of the standard ellipse is lower than 68 %. It can be computed from the $$\chi^2$$ distribution with 2 degrees of freedom. In general, to obtain a (hyper-)ellipsoid with coverage probability CL, one has to multiply the submatrix of the corresponding k parameters with a factor. For k = 1,2,3 and CL = 0.99

from scipy.stats import chi2

chi2(1).ppf(0.99) # 6.63...
chi2(2).ppf(0.99) # 9.21...
chi2(3).ppf(0.99) # 11.3...

draw_contour(x: str, y: str, *, size: int = 50, bound: Union[int, Sequence[Sequence[int]]] = 2) → Tuple[Sequence[float], Sequence[float], Sequence[Sequence[float]]]

Draw 2D contour around minimum (required matplotlib).

See contour() for details on parameters and interpretation. Please also read the docs of mncontour() to understand the difference between the two.

draw_mncontour(x: str, y: str, *, cl: Optional[float] = None, size: int = 100) → Sequence[Sequence[float]]

Draw 2D Minos confidence region (requires matplotlib).

See mncontour() for details on parameters and interpretation.

Examples

from iminuit import Minuit

def cost(x, y, z):
return (x - 1) ** 2 + (y - x) ** 2 + (z - 2) ** 2

cost.errordef = Minuit.LEAST_SQUARES

m = Minuit(cost, x=0, y=0, z=0)
m.migrad()
m.draw_mncontour("x", "y")

draw_mnprofile(vname: str, *, size: int = 30, bound: Union[int, Sequence[Sequence[int]]] = 2, subtract_min: bool = False, band: bool = True, text: bool = True) → Tuple[Sequence[float], Sequence[float]]

Draw Minos profile over a specified interval (requires matplotlib).

See mnprofile() for details and shared arguments. The following arguments are accepted.

Parameters: band – If true, show a band to indicate the Hesse error interval (Default: True). text – If true, show text a title with the function value and the Hesse error (Default: True).

Examples

from iminuit import Minuit

def cost(x, y, z):
return (x - 1) ** 2 + (y - x) ** 2 + (z - 2) ** 2

cost.errordef = Minuit.LEAST_SQUARES

m = Minuit(cost, x=0, y=0, z=0)
m.migrad()
m.draw_mnprofile("y")

draw_profile(vname: str, *, size: int = 100, bound: Union[int, Tuple[int, int]] = 2, subtract_min: bool = False, band: bool = True, text: bool = True) → Tuple[Sequence[float], Sequence[float]]

Draw 1D cost function profile over a range (requires matplotlib).

See profile() for details and shared arguments. The following additional arguments are accepted.

Parameters: band – If true, show a band to indicate the Hesse error interval (Default: True). text – If true, show text a title with the function value and the Hesse error (Default: True).
errordef

Access FCN increment above the minimum that corresponds to one standard deviation.

Default value is 1.0. errordef should be 1.0 for a least-squares cost function and 0.5 for a negative log-likelihood function. See section 1.5.1 on page 6 of the MINUIT2 User's Guide. This parameter is also called UP in MINUIT documents.

To make user code more readable, we provided two named constants:

m_lsq = Minuit(a_least_squares_function)
m_lsq.errordef = Minuit.LEAST_SQUARES  # == 1

m_nll = Minuit(a_likelihood_function)
m_nll.errordef = Minuit.LIKELIHOOD     # == 0.5

errors

Access parameter parabolic errors via an array-like view.

Like values, but instead of reading or writing the values, you read or write the errors (which double as step sizes for MINUITs numerical gradient estimation).

See also

fcn

Get cost function (usually a least-squares or likelihood function).

fixed

Access whether parameters are fixed via an array-like view.

Use to read or write the fixation state of a parameter based on the parameter index or the parameter name as a string. If you change the state and run migrad(), hesse(), or minos(), the new state is used.

In case of complex fits, it can help to fix some parameters first and only minimize the function with respect to the other parameters, then release the fixed parameters and minimize again starting from that state.

See also

fmin

Get function minimum data object.

fval

Get function value at minimum.

This is an alias for iminuit.util.FMin.fval.

grad

Get gradient function of the cost function.

hesse(ncall: Optional[int] = None)

Run HESSE algorithm to compute asymptotic errors.

HESSE estimates the covariance matrix by inverting the matrix of second derivatives (Hesse matrix) at the minimum. This covariance matrix is valid if your $$\chi^2$$ or likelihood profile looks like a hyperparabola around the minimum. Asymptotically (large samples) this is always the case, but in small samples the uncertainty estimate is approximate. If you want to know how your parameters are correlated, you also need to use this. The MINOS algorithm is another way to estimate parameter uncertainties, see minos().

Parameters: ncall – Approximate upper limit for the number of calls made by the HESSE algorithm. If set to None, use the adaptive heuristic from the Minuit2 library (Default: None).
init_params

Get list of current parameter data objects set to the initial fit state.

See also

limits

Access parameter limits via a array-like view.

Use to read or write the limits of a parameter based on the parameter index or the parameter name as a string. If you change the limits and run migrad(), hesse(), or minos(), the new state is used.

In case of complex fits, it can help to limit some parameters first, run Migrad, then remove the limits and run Migrad again. Limits will bias the result only if the best fit value is outside the limits, not if it is inside. Limits will affect the estimated HESSE uncertainties if the parameter is close to a limit. They do not affect the MINOS uncertainties, because those are invariant to transformations and limits are implemented via a variable transformation.

See also

merrors

Return a dict-like with Minos data objects.

The Minos data objects contain the full status information of the Minos run.

migrad(ncall: Optional[int] = None, iterate: int = 5)

Run Migrad minimization.

Migrad from the Minuit2 library is a robust minimisation algorithm which earned its reputation in 40+ years of almost exclusive usage in high-energy physics. How Migrad works is described in the Minuit paper. It uses first and approximate second derivatives to achieve quadratic convergence near the minimum.

Parameters: ncall – Approximate maximum number of calls before minimization will be aborted. If set to None, use the adaptive heuristic from the Minuit2 library (Default: None). Note: The limit may be slightly violated, because the condition is checked only after a full iteration of the algorithm, which usually performs several function calls. iterate – Automatically call Migrad up to N times if convergence was not reached (Default: 5). This simple heuristic makes Migrad converge more often even if the numerical precision of the cost function is low. Setting this to 1 disables the feature.

See also

minos(*parameters, cl: Optional[float] = None, ncall: Optional[int] = None)

Run Minos algorithm to compute confidence intervals.

The Minos algorithm uses the profile likelihood method to compute (generally asymmetric) confidence intervals. It scans the negative log-likelihood or (equivalently) the least-squares cost function around the minimum to construct a confidence interval.

Notes

Asymptotically (large samples), the Minos interval has a coverage probability equal to the given confidence level. The coverage probability is the probility for the interval to contain the true value in repeated identical experiments.

The interval is invariant to transformations and thus not distorted by parameter limits, unless the limits intersect with the confidence interval. As a rule-of-thumb: when the confidence intervals computed with the Hesse and Minos algorithms differ strongly, the Minos intervals are preferred. Otherwise, Hesse intervals are preferred.

Running Minos is computationally expensive when there are many fit parameters. Effectively, it scans over one parameter in small steps and runs a full minimisation for all other parameters of the cost function for each scan point. This requires many more function evaluations than running the Hesse algorithm.

Parameters: *parameters – Names of parameters to generate Minos errors for. If no positional arguments are given, Minos is run for each parameter. cl – Confidence level for the confidence interval. If None, a standard 68.3 % confidence interval is produced (Default: None). Setting this to another value requires the scipy module to be installed. ncall – Limit the number of calls made by Minos. If None, an adaptive internal heuristic of the Minuit2 library is used (Default: None).
mncontour(x: str, y: str, *, cl: Optional[float] = None, size: int = 100) → Sequence[Sequence[float]]

Get 2D MINOS confidence region.

This scans over two parameters and minimises all other free parameters for each scan point. This scan produces a statistical confidence region according to the profile likelihood method with a confidence level cl, which is asymptotically equal to the coverage probability of the confidence region.

The calculation is expensive since a numerical minimisation has to be performed at various points.

Parameters: x – Variable name of the first parameter. y – Variable name of the second parameter. cl – Confidence level of the contour. If None, a standard 68 % contour is computed (Default: None). Setting this to another value requires the scipy module to be installed. size – Number of points on the contour to find. Default 100. Increasing this makes the contour smoother, but requires more computation time. points – Contour points of the form [[x1, y1]…[xn, yn]]. array of float (N x 2)

See also

mnprofile(vname: str, *, size: int = 30, bound: Union[int, Sequence[int]] = 2, subtract_min: bool = False) → Tuple[Sequence[float], Sequence[float], Sequence[bool]]

Get Minos profile over a specified interval.

Scans over one parameter and minimises the function with respect to all other parameters for each scan point.

Parameters: vname – Name of parameter to scan. size – Number of scanning points (Default: 30). bound – If bound is tuple, (left, right) scanning bound. If bound is a number, it specifies how many $$\sigma$$ symmetrically from minimum (minimum +/- bound * $$\sigma$$) (Default: 2). subtract_min – Subtract minimum from return values (Default: False). locations (array of float) – Parameter values where the profile was computed. fvals (array of float) – Profile values. status (array of bool) – Whether minimisation in each point succeeded or not.
nfcn

Get total number of function calls.

nfit

Get number of fitted parameters (fixed parameters not counted).

ngrad

Get total number of gradient calls.

npar

Get number of parameters.

parameters

Get tuple of parameter names.

This is an alias for pos2var.

params

Get list of current parameter data objects.

pos2var

Map variable index to name.

precision

Access estimated precision of the cost function.

Default: None. If set to None, Minuit assumes the cost function is computed in double precision. If the precision of the cost function is lower (because it computes in single precision, for example) set this to some multiple of the smallest relative change of a parameter that still changes the function.

print_level

Access current print level.

You can assign an integer:

• 0: quiet (default)
• 1: print minimal debug messages to terminal
• 2: print more debug messages to terminal
• 3: print even more debug messages to terminal

Warning

Setting print_level has the unwanted side-effect of setting the level globally for all Minuit instances in the current Python session.

profile(vname: str, *, size: int = 100, bound: Union[int, Tuple[int, int]] = 2, subtract_min: bool = False) → Tuple[Sequence[float], Sequence[float]]

Calculate 1D cost function profile over a range.

A 1D scan of the cost function around the minimum, useful to inspect the minimum. For a fit with several free parameters this is not the same as the Minos profile computed by mncontour().

Parameters: vname – Parameter to scan over. size – Number of scanning points (Default: 100). bound – If bound is tuple, (left, right) scanning bound. If bound is a number, it specifies an interval of N $$\sigma$$ symmetrically around the minimum (Default: 2). subtract_min – If true, subtract offset so that smallest value is zero (Default: False). x (array of float) – Parameter values. y (array of float) – Function values.
reset()

Reset minimization state to initial state.

scan(ncall: Optional[int] = None)

Brute-force minimization.

Scans the function on a regular hypercube grid, whose bounds are defined either by parameter limits if present or by Minuit.values +/- Minuit.errors. Minuit.errors are initialized to very small values by default, too small for this scan. They should be increased before running scan or limits should be set. The scan evaluates the function exactly at the limit boundary, so the function should be defined there.

Parameters: ncall – Approximate number of function calls to spend on the scan. The actual number will be close to this, the scan uses ncall^(1/npar) steps per cube dimension. If no value is given, a heuristic is used to set ncall.

Notes

Originally this was supposed to use MnScan from C++ Minuit2, but MnScan is broken. It does a 1D scan with 41 steps for each parameter in sequence, so it is not actually scanning the full hypercube. It first scans one parameter, then starts the scan of the second parameter from the best value of the first and so on. Other issues: One cannot configure the number of steps. A gradient and second derivatives are computed for the starting values only to be discarded.

This implementation here does a full scan of the hypercube in Python. Returning a valid FunctionMinimum object was a major challenge, because C++ Minuit2 does not allow one to initialize data objects with data, it forces one to go through algorithm objects. Because of that design, the Minuit2 C++ interface forces one to compute the gradient and second derivatives for the starting values, even though these are not used in a scan. We turn a disadvantage into an advantage by tricking Minuit2 into computing updates of the step sizes and to estimate the EDM value.

simplex(ncall: Optional[int] = None)

Run Simplex minimization.

Simplex from the Minuit2 C++ library is a variant of the Nelder-Mead algorithm to find the minimum of a function. It does not make use of derivatives. The Wikipedia has a good article on the Nelder-Mead method.

Parameters: ncall – Approximate maximum number of calls before minimization will be aborted. If set to None, use the adaptive heuristic from the Minuit2 library (Default: None). Note: The limit may be slightly violated, because the condition is checked only after a full iteration of the algorithm, which usually performs several function calls.

Notes

The Simplex method usually converges more slowly than Migrad, but performs better in certain cases, the Rosenbrock function is a notable example. Unlike Migrad, the Simplex method does not have quadratic convergence near the minimum, so it is a good approach to run Migrad after Simplex to obtain an accurate solution in fewer steps. Simplex may also be useful to get close to the minimum from an unsuitable starting point.

The convergence criterion for Simplex is also based on EDM, but the threshold is much more lax than that of Migrad (see Minuit.tol for details). This was made so that Simplex stops early when getting near the minimum, to give the user a chance to switch to the more efficient Migrad algorithm to finish the minimization. Early stopping can be avoided by setting Minuit.tol to an accordingly smaller value, however.

strategy

Access current minimization strategy.

You can assign an integer:

• 0: Fast. Does not check a user-provided gradient. Does not improve Hesse matrix at minimum. Extra call to hesse() after migrad() is always needed for good error estimates. If you pass a user-provided gradient to MINUIT, convergence is faster.
• 1: Default. Checks user-provided gradient against numerical gradient. Checks and usually improves Hesse matrix at minimum. Extra call to hesse() after migrad() is usually superfluous. If you pass a user-provided gradient to MINUIT, convergence is slower.
• 2: Careful. Like 1, but does extra checks of intermediate Hessian matrix during minimization. The effect in benchmarks is a somewhat improved accuracy at the cost of more function evaluations. A similar effect can be achieved by reducing the tolerance tol for convergence at any strategy level.
throw_nan

Access whether to raise runtime error if the function evaluates to NaN.

If you set this to True, an error is raised whenever the function evaluates to NaN.

tol

Access tolerance for convergence.

The main convergence criteria of MINUIT is edm < edm_max, where edm_max is calculated as edm_max = 0.002 * tol * errordef in case of the MIGRAD algorithm and as edm_max = tol * errordef in case of the SIMPLEX algorithm. EDM stands for Estimated Distance to Minimum, which is described in the MINUIT paper. The EDM criterion is well suited for statistical cost functions, since it stops the minimization when parameter improvements become small compared to parameter uncertainties.

valid

Return True if the function minimum is valid.

This is an alias for iminuit.util.FMin.is_valid.

values

Access parameter values via an array-like view.

Use to read or write current parameter values based on the parameter index or the parameter name as a string. If you change a parameter value and run migrad(), the minimization will start from that value, similar for hesse() and minos().

See also

var2pos

Map variable name to index.

minimize¶

The minimize() function provides the same interface as scipy.optimize.minimize(). If you are familiar with the latter, this allows you to use Minuit with a quick start. Eventually, you still may want to learn the interface of the Minuit class, as it provides more functionality if you are interested in parameter uncertainties.

iminuit.minimize(fun, x0, args=(), method=None, jac=None, hess=None, hessp=None, bounds=None, constraints=None, tol=None, callback=None, options=None)

Interface to MIGRAD using the scipy.optimize.minimize API.

For a general description of the arguments, see scipy.optimize.minimize.

The method argument is ignored. The optimisation is always done using MIGRAD.

The options argument can be used to pass special settings to Minuit. All are optional.

Options:

• disp (bool): Set to true to print convergence messages. Default: False.
• tol (float): Tolerance for convergence. Default: None.
• maxfun (int): Maximum allowed number of iterations. Default: None.
• maxfev (int): Deprecated alias for maxfun.
• eps (sequence): Initial step size to numerical compute derivative. Minuit automatically refines this in subsequent iterations and is very insensitive to the initial choice. Default: 1.
Returns: OptimizeResult (dict with attribute access)
• x (ndarray): Solution of optimization.
• fun (float): Value of objective function at minimum.
• message (str): Description of cause of termination.
• hess_inv (ndarray): Inverse of Hesse matrix at minimum (may not be exact).
• nfev (int): Number of function evaluations.
• njev (int): Number of jacobian evaluations.
• minuit (object): Minuit object internally used to do the minimization. Use this to extract more information about the parameter errors.

iminuit.cost¶

Standard cost functions to minimize.

The cost functions defined here should be preferred over custom implementations. They have been optimized with knowledge about implementation details of Minuit to give the highest accucary and the most robust results. They are partially accelerated with numba, if numba is available.

class iminuit.cost.BinnedCost(n, xe, model, verbose)

Base class for binned cost functions.

For internal use.

n

Access bin counts.

xe

Access bin edges.

class iminuit.cost.BinnedNLL(n, xe, cdf, verbose=0)

Binned negative log-likelihood.

Use this if only the shape of the fitted PDF is of interest and the data is binned.

Initialize cost function with data and model.

Parameters: n (array-like) – Histogram counts. If this is an array N x 2, it is interpreted as pairs of sum of weights and sum of weights squared. xe (array-like) – Bin edge locations, must be len(n) + 1. cdf (callable) – Cumulative density function of the form f(xe, par0, par1, …, parN), where xe is a bin edge and par0, … parN are model parameters. Must be normalized to unity over the range (xe[0], xe[-1]). verbose (int, optional) – Verbosity level. 0: is no output (default). 1: print current args and negative log-likelihood value.
cdf

Get cumulative density function.

class iminuit.cost.Constant(value: float)

Cost function that represents a constant.

Initialize constant with a value.

class iminuit.cost.Cost(args: Tuple[float], verbose: int)

Base class for all cost functions.

For internal use.

errordef

For internal use.

func_code

For internal use.

verbose

Access verbosity level.

Set this to 1 to print all function calls with input and output.

class iminuit.cost.CostSum(*items)

Sum of cost functions.

Users do not need to create objects of this class themselves. They should just add cost functions, for example:

nll = UnbinnedNLL(...)
lsq = LeastSquares(...)
ncs = NormalConstraint(...)
csum = nll + lsq + ncs


CostSum is used to combine data from different experiments or to combine normal cost functions with soft constraints (see NormalConstraint).

The parameters of CostSum are the union of all parameters of its constituents.

Supports the sequence protocol to access the constituents.

Warning

CostSum does not work very well with cost functions that accept arrays, because the function signature does not allow one to determine how many parameters are accepted by the function and which parameters overlap between different cost functions.

CostSum works with cost functions that accept arrays only under the condition that all cost functions accept the very same array parameter:

1. All array must have the same name in all constituent cost functions.
2. All arrays must have the same length.
3. The positions in each array must correspond to the same model parameters.

Initialize with cost functions.

Parameters: *items (Cost) – Cost functions. May also be other CostSum functions.
class iminuit.cost.ExtendedBinnedNLL(n, xe, scaled_cdf, verbose=0)

Binned extended negative log-likelihood.

Use this if shape and normalization of the fitted PDF are of interest and the data is binned.

Initialize cost function with data and model.

Parameters: n (array-like) – Histogram counts. If this is an array N x 2, it is interpreted as pairs of sum of weights and sum of weights squared. xe (array-like) – Bin edge locations, must be len(n) + 1. scaled_cdf (callable) – Scaled Cumulative density function of the form f(xe, par0, [par1, …]), where xe is a bin edge and parN are model parameters. verbose (int, optional) – Verbosity level. 0: is no output (default). 1: print current args and negative log-likelihood value.
scaled_cdf

Get integrated density model.

class iminuit.cost.ExtendedUnbinnedNLL(data, scaled_pdf, verbose=0)

Unbinned extended negative log-likelihood.

Use this if shape and normalization of the fitted PDF are of interest and the original unbinned data is available.

Initialize cost function with data and model.

Parameters: data (array-like) – Sample of observations. scaled_pdf (callable) – Density function of the form f(data, par0, [par1, …]), where data is the data sample and parN are model parameters. Must return a tuple (, ). verbose (int, optional) – Verbosity level. 0: is no output (default). 1: print current args and negative log-likelihood value.
scaled_pdf

Get density model.

class iminuit.cost.LeastSquares(x, y, yerror, model, loss='linear', verbose=0)

Least-squares cost function (aka chisquare function).

Use this if you have data of the form (x, y +/- yerror).

Initialize cost function with data and model.

Parameters: x (array-like) – Locations where the model is evaluated. y (array-like) – Observed values. Must have the same length as x. yerror (array-like or float) – Estimated uncertainty of observed values. Must have same shape as y or be a scalar, which is then broadcasted to same shape as y. model (callable) – Function of the form f(x, par0, [par1, …]) whose output is compared to observed values, where x is the location and parN are model parameters. loss (str or callable, optional) – The loss function can be modified to make the fit robust against outliers, see scipy.optimize.least_squares for details. Only “linear” (default) and “soft_l1” are currently implemented, but users can pass any loss function as this argument. It should be a monotonic, twice differentiable function, which accepts the squared residual and returns a modified squared residual. verbose (int, optional) – Verbosity level. 0: is no output (default). 1: print current args and negative log-likelihood value.

Notes

Alternative loss functions make the fit more robust against outliers by weakening the pull of outliers. The mechanical analog of a least-squares fit is a system with attractive forces. The points pull the model towards them with a force whose potential is given by $$rho(z)$$ for a squared-offset $$z$$. The plot shows the standard potential in comparison with the weaker soft-l1 potential, in which outliers act with a constant force independent of their distance.

loss

Get loss function.

model

Get model of the form y = f(x, par0, [par1, …]).

x

Get explanatory variables.

y

Get samples.

yerror

Get sample uncertainties.

class iminuit.cost.MaskedCost(args, verbose)

Base class for cost functions that support data masking.

For internal use.

mask

Boolean array, array of indices, or None.

If not None, only values selected by the mask are considered. The mask acts on the first dimension of a value array, i.e. values[mask]. Default is None.

class iminuit.cost.NormalConstraint(args, value, error)

Soft gaussian constraint on one or several parameters.

The Gaussian constraint acts like a pseudo-measurement of the parameter itself, based on a (multi-variate) normal distribution. Gaussian constraints can be set for one or several parameters at once (which is more efficient). When several parameter are constrained, one can specify the full covariance matrix of the parameters.

Notes

It is sometimes necessary to add a weak Gaussian constraint on a parameter to avoid instabilities in the fit. A typical example in high-energy physics is the fit of a signal peak above some background. The signal peak typically has an amplitude which is of interest and shape parameters, which are usually nuisance parameters. If the peak in the sample is close to zero, the shape parameters of the signal model become unconstrained by the data and the fit becomes unstable. This can be avoided by adding weak (large uncertainty) gaussian constraints on the shape parameters whose pull is negligible if the peak amplitude is non-zero.

This class can also be used to approximately include external measurements of some parameters, if the original cost function is not available or too costly to compute. If the external measurement was performed in the asymptotic limit with a large sample, a normal constraint is an accurate statistical representation of the external result.

Initialize the normal constraint with expected value(s) and error(s).

Parameters: args (str or sequence of str) – Parameter name(s). value (float or array-like) – Expected value(s). Must have same length as args. error (float or array-like) – Expected error(s). If 1D, must have same length as args. If 2D, must be the covariance matrix of the parameters.
covariance

Get expected covariance of parameters.

Can be 1D (diagonal of covariance matrix) or 2D (full covariance matrix).

value

Get expected parameter values.

class iminuit.cost.UnbinnedCost(data, model, verbose)

Base class for unbinned cost functions.

For internal use.

data

Unbinned samples.

class iminuit.cost.UnbinnedNLL(data, pdf, verbose=0)

Unbinned negative log-likelihood.

Use this if only the shape of the fitted PDF is of interest and the original unbinned data is available.

Initialize UnbinnedNLL with data and model.

Parameters: data (array-like) – Sample of observations. pdf (callable) – Probability density function of the form f(data, par0, [par1, …]), where data is the data sample and parN are model parameters. verbose (int, optional) – Verbosity level. 0: is no output (default). 1: print current args and negative log-likelihood value.
pdf

Get probability density model.

iminuit.util¶

Data classes and utilities used by iminuit.Minuit.

class iminuit.util.BasicView(minuit, ndim=0)

Array-like view of parameter state.

Derived classes need to implement methods _set and _get to access specific properties of the parameter state.

Not to be initialized by users.

class iminuit.util.ErrorView(minuit, ndim=0)

Array-like view of parameter errors.

Not to be initialized by users.

class iminuit.util.FMin(fmin, nfcn, ngrad, edm_goal)

Function minimum view.

Not to be initialized by users.

edm

Get Estimated Distance to Minimum.

Minuit uses this criterion to determine whether the fit converged. It depends on the gradient and the Hessian matrix. It measures how well the current second order expansion around the function minimum describes the function, by taking the difference between the predicted (based on gradient and Hessian) function value at the minimum and the actual value.

edm_goal

Get EDM threshold value for stopping the minimization.

The threshold is allowed to be violated up to a factor of 10 in some situations.

errordef

Equal to the value of Minuit.errordef when Migrad ran.

fval

Get cost function value at the minimum.

has_accurate_covar

Return whether the covariance matrix is accurate.

While Migrad runs, it computes an approximation to the current Hessian matrix. If the strategy is set to 0 or if the fit did not converge, the inverse of this approximation is returned instead of the inverse of the accurately computed Hessian matrix. This property returns False if the approximation has been returned instead of an accurate matrix.

has_covariance

Return whether a covariance matrix was computed at all.

This is false if the Simplex minimization algorithm was used instead of Migrad, in which no approximation to the Hessian is computed.

has_made_posdef_covar

Return whether the matrix was forced to be positive definite.

While Migrad runs, it computes an approximation to the current Hessian matrix. It can happen that this approximation is not positive definite, but that is required to compute the next Newton step. Migrad then adds an appropriate diagonal matrix to enforce positive definiteness.

If the fit has converged, this should always be false. It may be true if the fit did not converge or was stopped prematurely.

has_parameters_at_limit

Return whether any bounded parameter was fitted close to a bound.

The estimated error for the affected parameters is usually off. May be an indication to remove or loosen the limits on the affected parameter.

has_posdef_covar

Return whether the Hessian matrix is positive definite.

This must be the case if the extremum is a minimum. Otherwise it is a maximum or a saddle point.

If the fit has converged, this should always be true. It may be false if the fit did not converge or was stopped prematurely. It may be triggered when some parameters are perfectly correlated.

has_reached_call_limit

Return whether Migrad exceeded the allowed number of function calls.

If this is true, the fit was stopped before convergence was reached.

has_valid_parameters

Return whether parameters are valid.

For it to return True, the following conditions need to be fulfilled:

• has_reached_call_limit is False
• is_above_max_edm is False

Note: The actual verdict is computed inside the Minuit2 C++ code, so we cannot guarantee that is_valid is exactly equivalent to these conditions.

hesse_failed

Return whether the last call to Hesse failed.

is_above_max_edm

Return whether the EDM value is below the convergence threshold.

If this is true, the fit did not converge; otherwise this is false.

is_valid

Return whether Migrad converged successfully.

For it to return True, the following conditions need to be fulfilled:

• has_valid_parameters is True
• has_reached_call_limit is False
• is_above_max_edm is False

Note: The actual verdict is computed inside the Minuit2 C++ code, so we cannot guarantee that is_valid is exactly equivalent to these conditions.

nfcn

Get number of function calls so far.

ngrad

Get number of function gradient calls so far.

class iminuit.util.FixedView(minuit, ndim=0)

Array-like view of whether parameters are fixed.

Not to be initialized by users.

exception iminuit.util.HesseFailedWarning

HESSE failed warning.

exception iminuit.util.IMinuitWarning

Generic iminuit warning.

class iminuit.util.LimitView(minuit)

Array-like view of parameter limits.

Not to be initialized by users.

class iminuit.util.MError(*args)

Minos data object.

number

Parameter index.

Type: int
name

Parameter name.

Type: str
lower

Lower error.

Type: float
upper

Upper error.

Type: float
is_valid

Whether Minos computation was successful.

Type: bool
lower_valid

Whether downward scan was successful.

Type: bool
upper_valid

Whether upward scan was successful.

Type: bool
at_lower_limit

Whether scan reached lower limit.

Type: bool
at_upper_limit

Whether scan reached upper limit.

Type: bool
at_lower_max_fcn

Whether allowed number of function evaluations was exhausted.

Type: bool
at_upper_max_fcn

Whether allowed number of function evaluations was exhausted.

Type: bool
lower_new_min

Parameter value for new minimum, if one was found in downward scan.

Type: float
upper_new_min

Parameter value for new minimum, if one was found in upward scan.

Type: float
nfcn

Number of function calls.

Type: int
min

Function value at the new minimum.

Type: float

Not to be initialized by users.

class iminuit.util.MErrors

Dict-like map from parameter name to Minos result object.

class iminuit.util.Matrix

Enhanced Numpy ndarray.

Works like a normal ndarray in computations, but also supports pretty printing in ipython and Jupyter notebooks. Elements can be accessed via indices or parameter names.

Not to be initialized by users.

correlation()

Compute and return correlation matrix.

If the matrix is already a correlation matrix, this effectively returns a copy of the original matrix.

to_table()

Convert matrix to tabular format.

The output is consumable by the external tabulate module.

Examples

>>> import tabulate as tab
>>> from iminuit import Minuit
>>> m = Minuit(lambda x, y: x ** 2 + y ** 2, x=1, y=2).migrad()
>>> tab.tabulate(*m.covariance.to_table())
x    y
--  ---  ---
x     1   -0
y    -0    4

class iminuit.util.Param(*args)

Data object for a single Parameter.

Not to be initialized by users.

class iminuit.util.Params

Tuple-like holder of parameter data objects.

to_table()

Convert parameter data to a tabular format.

The output is consumable by the external tabulate module.

Examples

>>> import tabulate as tab
>>> from iminuit import Minuit
>>> m = Minuit(lambda x, y: x ** 2 + (y / 2) ** 2 + 1, x=0, y=0)
>>> m.fixed["x"] = True
>>> m.migrad().minos()
>>> tab.tabulate(*m.params.to_table())
pos  name      value    error  error-    error+    limit-    limit+    fixed
-----  ------  -------  -------  --------  --------  --------  --------  -------
0  x             0      0.1                                          yes
1  y             0      1.4  -1.0      1.0

class iminuit.util.ValueView(minuit, ndim=0)

Array-like view of parameter values.

Not to be initialized by users.

iminuit.util.describe(callable)

Attempt to extract the function argument names.

Parameters: callable (callable) – Callable whose parameters should be extracted. Returns a tuple of strings with the parameters names if successful and an empty tuple otherwise. tuple

Notes

Parameter names are extracted with the following three methods, which are attempted in order. The first to succeed determines the result.

1. Using obj.func_code. If an objects has a func_code attribute, it is used to detect the parameters. Examples:

def f(*args): # no signature
x, y = args
return (x - 2) ** 2 + (y - 3) ** 2

f.func_code = make_func_code(("x", "y"))


Users are encouraged to use this mechanism to provide signatures for objects that otherwise would not have a detectable signature. The function make_func_code() can be used to generate an appropriate func_code object. An example where this is useful is shown in one of the tutorials.

2. Using inspect.signature(). The inspect module provides a general function to extract the signature of a Python callable. It works on most callables, including Functors like this:

class MyLeastSquares:
def __call__(self, a, b):
# ...

3. Using the docstring. The docstring is textually parsed to detect the parameter names. This requires that a docstring is present which follows the Python standard formatting for function signatures.

Ambiguous cases with positional and keyword argument are handled in the following way:

# describe returns [a, b];
# *args and **kwargs are ignored
def fcn(a, b, *args, **kwargs): ...

# describe returns [a, b, c];
# positional arguments with default values are detected
def fcn(a, b, c=1): ...

iminuit.util.make_func_code(params)

Make a func_code object to fake function signature.

You can make a funccode from describable object by:

make_func_code(["x", "y"])