The theory of convex optimization has been constantly developing over the past 30 years. Most recently, many researchers have been studying more complicated classes of problems that still can be studied by means of convex analysis, so-called "anticonvex" and "convex-anticonvex" optimizaton problems. This manuscript contains an exhaustive presentation of the duality for these classes of problems and some of its generalization in the framework of abstract convexity. This manuscript will be of great interest for experts in this and related fields.

The theory of convex optimization has been constantly developing over the past 30 years. Most recently, many researchers have been studying more complicated classes of problems that still can be studied by means of convex analysis, so-called "anticonvex" and "convex-anticonvex" optimizaton problems. This manuscript contains an exhaustive presentation of the duality for these classes of problems and some of its generalization in the framework of abstract convexity. This manuscript will be of great interest for experts in this and related fields.

Convex optimization problems arise frequently in many different fields. This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the subject, and shows in detail how such problems can be solved numerically with great efficiency. The book begins with the basic elements of convex sets and functions, and then describes various classes of convex optimization problems. Duality and approximation techniques are then covered, as are statistical estimation techniques. Various geometrical problems are then presented, and there is detailed discussion of unconstrained and constrained minimization problems, and interior-point methods. The focus of the book is on recognizing convex optimization problems and then finding the most appropriate technique for solving them. It contains many worked examples and homework exercises and will appeal to students, researchers and practitioners in fields such as engineering, computer science, mathematics, statistics, finance and economics.

This thesis investigates the role of duality and the use of approximation methods in cooperative optimization and control. Concerning cooperative optimization, a general algorithm for convex optimization in networks with asynchronous communication is presented. Based on the idea of polyhedral approximations, a family of distributed algorithms is developed to solve a variety of distributed decision problems, ranging from semi-definite and robust optimization problems up to distributed model predictive control. Optimization theory, and in particular duality theory, are shown to be central elements also in cooperative control. This thesis establishes an intimate relation between passivity-based cooperative control and network optimization theory. The presented results provide a complete duality theory for passivity-based cooperative control and lead the way to novel analysis tools for complex dynamic phenomena. In this way, this thesis presents theoretical insights and algorithmic approaches for cooperative optimization and control, and emphasizes the role of convexity and duality in this field.

This book provides a comprehensive and accessible presentation of algorithms for solving convex optimization problems. It relies on rigorous mathematical analysis, but also aims at an intuitive exposition that makes use of visualization where possible. This is facilitated by the extensive use of analytical and algorithmic concepts of duality, which by nature lend themselves to geometrical interpretation. The book places particular emphasis on modern developments, and their widespread applications in fields such as large-scale resource allocation problems, signal processing, and machine learning. The book is aimed at students, researchers, and practitioners, roughly at the first year graduate level. It is similar in style to the author's 2009"Convex Optimization Theory" book, but can be read independently. The latter book focuses on convexity theory and optimization duality, while the present book focuses on algorithmic issues. The two books share notation, and together cover the entire finite-dimensional convex optimization methodology. To facilitate readability, the statements of definitions and results of the "theory book" are reproduced without proofs in Appendix B.

Of recent coinage, the term "nondifferentiable optimization" (NDO) covers a spectrum of problems related to finding extremal values of nondifferentiable functions. Problems of minimizing nonsmooth functions arise in engineering applications as well as in mathematics proper. The Chebyshev approximation problem is an ample illustration of this. Without loss of generality, we shall consider only minimization problems. Among nonsmooth minimization problems, minimax problems and convex problems have been studied extensively ([31], [36], [57], [110], [120]). Interest in NDO has been constantly growing in recent years (monographs: [30], [81], [127] and articles and papers: [14], [20], [87]-[89], [98], [130], [135], [140]-[142], [152], [153], [160], all dealing with various aspects of non smooth optimization). For solving an arbitrary minimization problem, it is neces sary to: 1. Study properties of the objective function, in particular, its differentiability and directional differentiability. 2. Establish necessary (and, if possible, sufficient) condi tions for a global or local minimum. 3. Find the direction of descent (steepest or, simply, feasible--in appropriate sense). 4. Construct methods of successive approximation. In this book, the minimization problems for nonsmooth func tions of a finite number of variables are considered. Of fun damental importance are necessary conditions for an extremum (for example, [24], [45], [57], [73], [74], [103], [159], [163], [167], [168].

Provides a relatively brief introduction to conjugate duality in both finite- and infinite-dimensional problems. An emphasis is placed on the fundamental importance of the concepts of Lagrangian function, saddle-point, and saddle-value. General examples are drawn from nonlinear programming, approximation, stochastic programming, the calculus of variations, and optimal control.