The optimal design of electrical machines can be mathematically modeled as a (mixed-integer) nonlinear optimization problem. We investigate the impact of different mathematical formulations on the results obtained using a local optimization solver which is well-known in the engineering community: MatLab's fmincon function. Our analysis is based on six different mathematically equivalent formulations for the same problem of the design of an electrical machine without slot. Our results underline

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... he important impact that formulation differences may have on solver performance even on a small example of design.