This textbook offers theoretical, algorithmic and computational guidelines for solving the most frequently encountered linear-quadratic optimization problems. It provides an overview of recent advances in control and systems theory, numerical line algebra, numerical optimization, scientific computations and software engineering.

Techniques and principles of minimax theory play a key role in many areas of research, including game theory, optimization, and computational complexity. In general, a minimax problem can be formulated as min max f(x, y) (1) ",EX !lEY where f(x, y) is a function defined on the product of X and Y spaces. There are two basic issues regarding minimax problems: The first issue concerns the establishment of sufficient and necessary conditions for equality minmaxf(x,y) = maxminf(x,y). (2) "'EX !lEY !lEY "'EX The classical minimax theorem of von Neumann is a result of this type. Duality theory in linear and convex quadratic programming interprets minimax theory in a different way. The second issue concerns the establishment of sufficient and necessary conditions for values of the variables x and y that achieve the global minimax function value f(x*, y*) = minmaxf(x, y). (3) "'EX !lEY There are two developments in minimax theory that we would like to mention.

Permanently increasing requirements in power supply necessitate efficient control of electric power systems. An emerging subject of importance is optimization. Papers on modelling aspects of unit commitment and optimal power flow provide the introduction to power systems control and to its associated problem statement. Due to the nature of the underlying optimization problems recent developments in advanced and well established mathematical programming methodologies are presented, illustrating in which way dynamic, separable, continuous and stochastic features might be exploited. In completing the various methodologies a number of presentations have stated experiences with optimization packages currently used for unit commitment and optimal power flow calculations. This work represents a state-of-the-art of mathematical programming methodologies, unit commitment, optimal power flow and their applications in power system control.

The papers in this volume emphasize the numerical aspects of three main areas: optimization, linear algebra and partial differential equations. Held in January, 1989, in Yucatan, Mexico, the workshop was organized by the Institute for Research in Applied Mathematics of the National University of Mexico in collaboration with the mathematical Sciences Department at Rice University.

The goal of the Encyclopedia of Optimization is to introduce the reader to a complete set of topics that show the spectrum of research, the richness of ideas, and the breadth of applications that has come from this field. The second edition builds on the success of the former edition with more than 150 completely new entries, designed to ensure that the reference addresses recent areas where optimization theories and techniques have advanced. Particularly heavy attention resulted in health science and transportation, with entries such as "Algorithms for Genomics", "Optimization and Radiotherapy Treatment Design", and "Crew Scheduling".

This proceedings contains seven invited papers and 100 contributed papers. The topics covered range from studies of theoretical aspects of computational methods through to simulations of large-scale industrial processes, with an emphasis on the efficient use of computers to solve practical problems. Developers and users of computational techniques who wish to keep up with recent developments in the application of modern computational technology to problems in science and engineering will find much of interest in this volume.

Nonsmooth optimization covers the minimization or maximization of functions which do not have the differentiability properties required by classical methods. The field of nonsmooth optimization is significant, not only because of the existence of nondifferentiable functions arising directly in applications, but also because several important methods for solving difficult smooth problems lead directly to the need to solve nonsmooth problems, which are either smaller in dimension or simpler in structure.This book contains twenty five papers written by forty six authors from twenty countries in five continents. It includes papers on theory, algorithms and applications for problems with first-order nondifferentiability (the usual sense of nonsmooth optimization) second-order nondifferentiability, nonsmooth equations, nonsmooth variational inequalities and other problems related to nonsmooth optimization.