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- <focus>Finding $\hat{\theta_{_{MLE}}}$ Numerically</focus>

    + <focus>Remember</focus> the goal of maximum likelihood estimation is to <u>maximize the likelihood function</u>

    + The most straight-forward way to do this is through numerical optimization

    + Numerical optimization can be as fast as graphical methods and as accurate as analytical methods
    
    + R has [several functions](https://afit.shinyapps.io/r-intro-stats) for optimizing/maximizing functions

    + Here, we'll use my favorite - `nlminb( )`