Patent Document ID: 20030046049
Application ID: 10231338
Patent Flag: 0

Claim One:
1. A method for finding an optimum model, comprising: a. specifying a base model that includes a variable having a value; b. specifying a goal that identifies a characteristic of each model that is optimized, the best model being the model that produces the best result for the characteristic; c. specifying a tolerance that is a minimum amount that the variable can be changed; d. specifying a delta that is initially set to a maximum amount that the variable can be changed; e. running the base model to obtain a result for the base model; f. identifying the current best model to be the base model; g. creating a plus model by setting the variable value to the current best model value plus the delta; h. running the plus model to obtain a result for the plus model; i. creating a minus model by setting the variable value to the current best model value minus the delta; j. running the minus model to obtain a result for the minus model; k. setting a previous best model to the current best model and setting the current best model to one of the current best model, the plus model and the minus model having the best result for the characteristic; I. repeating steps (g) through (I) if the current best model is different than the previous best model; m. reducing the delta; n. repeating steps (g) through (n) if the delta is greater than or equal to the tolerance; and o. identifying the current best model as the optimum model.