  Kernel ridge regression is used to approximate the kinetic energy of
non-interacting fermions in a one-dimensional box as a functional of their
density. The properties of different kernels and methods of cross-validation
are explored, and highly accurate energies are achieved. Accurate {\em
constrained optimal densities} are found via a modified Euler-Lagrange
constrained minimization of the total energy. A projected gradient descent
algorithm is derived using local principal component analysis. Additionally, a
sparse grid representation of the density can be used without degrading the
performance of the methods. The implications for machine-learned density
functional approximations are discussed.
