Optimization is the act of obtaining the "best" result under given circumstances. In design, construction, and maintenance of any engineering system, engineers must make technological and managerial decisions to minimize either the effort or cost required or to maximize benefits. There is no single method available for solving all optimization problems efficiently. Several optimization methods have been developed for different types of problems. The optimum-seeking methods are mathematical programming techniques (specifically, nonlinear programming techniques). Nonlinear Optimization: Models and Applications presents the concepts in several ways to foster understanding. Geometric interpretation: is used to re-enforce the concepts and to foster understanding of the mathematical procedures. The student sees that many problems can be analyzed, and approximate solutions found before analytical solutions techniques are applied. Numerical approximations: early on, the student is exposed to numerical techniques. These numerical procedures are algorithmic and iterative. Worksheets are provided in Excel, MATLAB®, and MapleTM to facilitate the procedure. Algorithms: all algorithms are provided with a step-by-step format. Examples follow the summary to illustrate its use and application. Nonlinear Optimization: Models and Applications: Emphasizes process and interpretation throughout Presents a general classification of optimization problems Addresses situations that lead to models illustrating many types of optimization problems Emphasizes model formulations Addresses a special class of problems that can be solved using only elementary calculus Emphasizes model solution and model sensitivity analysis About the author: William P. Fox is an emeritus professor in the Department of Defense Analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School. He received his Ph.D. at Clemson University and has taught at the United States Military Academy and at Francis Marion University where he was the chair of mathematics. He has written many publications, including over 20 books and over 150 journal articles. Currently, he is an adjunct professor in the Department of Mathematics at the College of William and Mary. He is the emeritus director of both the High School Mathematical Contest in Modeling and the Mathematical Contest in Modeling.

Here is a collection of nonlinear optimization applications from the real world, expressed in the General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS). The concepts are presented so that the reader can quickly modify and update them to represent real-world situations.

This book addresses modern nonlinear programming (NLP) concepts and algorithms, especially as they apply to challenging applications in chemical process engineering. The author provides a firm grounding in fundamental NLP properties and algorithms, and relates them to real-world problem classes in process optimization, thus making the material understandable and useful to chemical engineers and experts in mathematical optimization.

Nonlinear Optimization in Electrical Engineering with Applications in MATLAB® provides an introductory course on nonlinear optimization in electrical engineering, with a focus on applications such as the design of electric, microwave, and photonic circuits, wireless communications, and digital filter design.

Optimization is of critical importance in engineering. Engineers constantly strive for the best possible solutions, the most economical use of limited resources, and the greatest efficiency. As system complexity increases, these goals mandate the use of state-of-the-art optimization techniques. In recent years, the theory and methodology of optimization have seen revolutionary improvements. Moreover, the exponential growth in computational power, along with the availability of multicore computing with virtually unlimited memory and storage capacity, has fundamentally changed what engineers can do to optimize their designs. This is a two-way process: engineers benefit from developments in optimization methodology, and challenging new classes of optimization problems arise from novel engineering applications. Advances and Trends in Optimization with Engineering Applications reviews 10 major areas of optimization and related engineering applications, providing a broad summary of state-of-the-art optimization techniques most important to engineering practice. Each part provides a clear overview of a specific area and discusses a range of real-world problems. The book provides a solid foundation for engineers and mathematical optimizers alike who want to understand the importance of optimization methods to engineering and the capabilities of these methods.

Optimization is one of the most important areas of modern applied mathematics, with applications in fields from engineering and economics to finance, statistics, management science, and medicine. While many books have addressed its various aspects, Nonlinear Optimization is the first comprehensive treatment that will allow graduate students and researchers to understand its modern ideas, principles, and methods within a reasonable time, but without sacrificing mathematical precision. Andrzej Ruszczynski, a leading expert in the optimization of nonlinear stochastic systems, integrates the theory and the methods of nonlinear optimization in a unified, clear, and mathematically rigorous fashion, with detailed and easy-to-follow proofs illustrated by numerous examples and figures. The book covers convex analysis, the theory of optimality conditions, duality theory, and numerical methods for solving unconstrained and constrained optimization problems. It addresses not only classical material but also modern topics such as optimality conditions and numerical methods for problems involving nondifferentiable functions, semidefinite programming, metric regularity and stability theory of set-constrained systems, and sensitivity analysis of optimization problems. Based on a decade's worth of notes the author compiled in successfully teaching the subject, this book will help readers to understand the mathematical foundations of the modern theory and methods of nonlinear optimization and to analyze new problems, develop optimality theory for them, and choose or construct numerical solution methods. It is a must for anyone seriously interested in optimization.

This book provides the foundations of the theory of nonlinear optimization as well as some related algorithms and presents a variety of applications from diverse areas of applied sciences. The author combines three pillars of optimization?theoretical and algorithmic foundation, familiarity with various applications, and the ability to apply the theory and algorithms on actual problems?and rigorously and gradually builds the connection between theory, algorithms, applications, and implementation. Readers will find more than 170 theoretical, algorithmic, and numerical exercises that deepen and enhance the reader's understanding of the topics. The author includes offers several subjects not typically found in optimization books?for example, optimality conditions in sparsity-constrained optimization, hidden convexity, and total least squares. The book also offers a large number of applications discussed theoretically and algorithmically, such as circle fitting, Chebyshev center, the Fermat?Weber problem, denoising, clustering, total least squares, and orthogonal regression and theoretical and algorithmic topics demonstrated by the MATLAB? toolbox CVX and a package of m-files that is posted on the book?s web site.