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 complementary yet stand-alone material. The practical orientation of the topics chosen and a wealth of useful examples also make the book suitable 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.