At the bottom of the applet are two text fields for specifying the "optimizee" and "constraint" functions.
You can enter in new functions by typing them into the labled text fields, Click first in the field where you want to type to activate the cursor, and hit return when you are done. This enters your new function.
Use * for multiplication, and ^ for powers. It also recognizes some functions like cosine and sine. To use these, type something like
cos[(x^2+y^2)^(1/2)]
Note the square brackets [ ] used for functions, and round brackets ( ) for other grouping... That's about all the rules.
There is a series of radio buttons that brings up various control and feedback panels on the right. Click them to see what they do. One of them gives you a choice of algorithms, including the two discussed in the notes, and one that combines the best features of both.
Another shows you the coordinate values on your graph. As you move the mouse over the graph, the coordinates of the mouse and the values of f and g at that point are reported in the labled boxes on the right of the graph.
You can "zoom in" -- or out -- on region by entering a new center and height and width of the graph in the appropriate fields. When you have entered the values you want in ALL of these fields, hit return while the cursor is in any one of them. The graph will then be updated. But remember, it is updated each time you hit return. Since this takes some time, depending on your machine and runtime, its best to hit return only when everything is set...
At the bottom of the applet you can select between the two implementations of Newton's method described above. Try them both out for several starting points. some close and some far.
To do this, just click on a point in the graph this selects the starting point. The algorith is run, the results are printed out, and an animation of the approach is played out. The algortihm runs until the sum of the absolute values of f and g is reduced by at least a factor of 10e8, or 80 steps, whichever comes first.