Relative Function Change Criterion

The relative function change criterion is used to stop iteration when the function value is no longer changing (see Structural Equation Modeling ). Basically, it stops iteration when the function ceases to change. The criterion is necessary because, sometimes, it is not possible to reduce the discrepancy function even when the gradient is not close to zero. This occurs, in particular, when one of the parameter estimates is at a boundary value. The "true minimum," where the gradient actually is zero, includes parameter values that are not permitted (like negative variances, or correlations greater than one).
On the i'th iteration, this criterion is equal to