Practical Optimization: Algorithms and Engineering Applications

William F. Egan9780471200239, 0471200239

Practical Optimization: Algorithms and Engineering Applications provides a hands-on treatment of the subject of optimization. A comprehensive set of problems and exercises makes the book suitable for use in one or two semesters of a first-year graduate course or an advanced undergraduate course. Each half of the book contains a full semester’s worth of complimentary yet stand-alone material. The practical orientation of the topics chosen and a wealth of useful examples also make the book suitable as a reference work for practitioners in the field.

Advancements in the efficiency of digital computers and the evolution of reliable software for numerical computation during the past three decades have led to a rapid growth in the theory, methods, and algorithms of numerical optimization. This body of knowledge has motivated widespread applications of optimization methods in many disciplines, e.g., engineering, business, and science, and has subsequently led to problem solutions that were considered intractable not too long ago.

Key Features:

extensively class-tested
provides a complete teaching package with MATLAB exercises and online solutions to end-of-chapter problems

includes recent methods of emerging interest such as semidefinite programming and second-order cone programming
presents a unified treatment of unconstrained and constrained optimization
uses a practical treatment of optimization accessible to broad audience, from college students to scientists and industry professionals

provides a thorough appendix with background theory so non-experts can understand how applications are solved from point of view of optimization