In recent years, many new techniques have emerged in the mathematical theory of discrete optimization that have proven to be effective in solving a number of hard problems. This book presents these recent advances, particularly those that arise from algebraic geometry, commutative algebra, convex and discrete geometry, generating functions, and other tools normally considered outside of the standard curriculum in optimization. These new techniques, all of which are presented with minimal prerequisites, provide a transition from linear to nonlinear discrete optimization. This book can be used as a textbook for advanced undergraduates or first-year graduate students in mathematics, computer science or operations research. It is also appropriate for mathematicians, engineers, and scientists engaged in computation who wish to gain a deeper understanding of how and why algorithms work.

This volume contains the proceedings of the AMS Special Session on Discrete Geometry and Algebraic Combinatorics held on January 11, 2013, in San Diego, California. The collection of articles in this volume is devoted to packings of metric spaces and related questions, and contains new results as well as surveys of some areas of discrete geometry. This volume consists of papers on combinatorics of transportation polytopes, including results on the diameter of graphs of such polytopes; the generalized Steiner problem and related topics of the minimal fillings theory; a survey of distance graphs and graphs of diameters, and a group of papers on applications of algebraic combinatorics to packings of metric spaces including sphere packings and topics in coding theory. In particular, this volume presents a new approach to duality in sphere packing based on the Poisson summation formula, applications of semidefinite programming to spherical codes and equiangular lines, new results in list decoding of a family of algebraic codes, and constructions of bent and semi-bent functions.

The only book offering solved exercises for integer and combinatorial optimization, this book contains 102 classroom tested problems of varying scope and difficulty chosen from a plethora of topics and applications. It has an associated website containing additional problems, lecture notes, and suggested readings. Topics covered include modeling capabilities of integer variables, the Branch-and-Bound method, cutting planes, network optimization models, shortest path problems, optimum tree problems, maximal cardinality matching problems, matching-covering duality, symmetric and asymmetric TSP, 2-matching and 1-tree relaxations, VRP formulations, and dynamic programming. Problems and Solutions for Integer and Combinatorial Optimization: Building Skills in Discrete Optimization is meant for undergraduate and beginning graduate students in mathematics, computer science, and engineering to use for self-study and for instructors to use in conjunction with other course material and when teaching courses in discrete optimization.

This concise, self-contained volume introduces convex analysis and optimization algorithms, with an emphasis on bridging the two areas. It explores cutting-edge algorithms—such as the proximal gradient, Douglas–Rachford, Peaceman–Rachford, and FISTA—that have applications in machine learning, signal processing, image reconstruction, and other fields. An Introduction to Convexity, Optimization, and Algorithms contains algorithms illustrated by Julia examples and more than 200 exercises that enhance the reader’s understanding of the topic. Clear explanations and step-by-step algorithmic descriptions facilitate self-study for individuals looking to enhance their expertise in convex analysis and optimization. Designed for courses in convex analysis, numerical optimization, and related subjects, this volume is intended for undergraduate and graduate students in mathematics, computer science, and engineering. Its concise length makes it ideal for a one-semester course. Researchers and professionals in applied areas, such as data science and machine learning, will find insights relevant to their work.

This book offers a gentle introduction to the geometry of numbers from a modern Fourier-analytic point of view. One of the main themes is the transfer of geometric knowledge of a polytope to analytic knowledge of its Fourier transform. The Fourier transform preserves all of the information of a polytope, and turns its geometry into analysis. The approach is unique, and streamlines this emerging field by presenting new simple proofs of some basic results of the field. In addition, each chapter is fitted with many exercises, some of which have solutions and hints in an appendix. Thus, an individual learner will have an easier time absorbing the material on their own, or as part of a class. Overall, this book provides an introduction appropriate for an advanced undergraduate, a beginning graduate student, or researcher interested in exploring this important expanding field.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Integer Programming and Combinatorial Optimization, IPCO 2014, held in Bonn, Germany, in June 2014. The 34 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 143 submissions. The conference is a forum for researchers and practitioners working on various aspects of integer programming and combinatorial optimization. The aim is to present recent developments in theory, computation, and applications in these areas. The scope of IPCO is viewed in a broad sense, to include algorithmic and structural results in integer programming and combinatorial optimization as well as revealing computational studies and novel applications of discrete optimization to practical problems.

Built on the framework of the successful first edition, this book serves as a modern introduction to the field of optimization. The author’s objective is to provide the foundations of theory and algorithms of nonlinear optimization as well as to present a variety of applications from diverse areas of applied sciences. Introduction to Nonlinear Optimization gradually yet rigorously builds connections between theory, algorithms, applications, and actual implementation. The book contains several topics not typically included in optimization books, such as optimality conditions in sparsity constrained optimization, hidden convexity, and total least squares. Readers will discover a wide array of applications such as circle fitting, Chebyshev center, the Fermat–Weber problem, denoising, clustering, total least squares, and orthogonal regression. These applications are studied both theoretically and algorithmically, illustrating concepts such as duality. Python and MATLAB programs are used to show how the theory can be implemented. The extremely popular CVX toolbox (MATLAB) and CVXPY module (Python) are described and used. More than 250 theoretical, algorithmic, and numerical exercises enhance the reader's understanding of the topics. (More than 70 of the exercises provide detailed solutions, and many others are provided with final answers.) The theoretical and algorithmic topics are illustrated by Python and MATLAB examples. This book is intended for graduate or advanced undergraduate students in mathematics, computer science, electrical engineering, and potentially other engineering disciplines.

An accessible and rigorous presentation of contemporary models and ideas of stochastic programming, this book focuses on optimization problems involving uncertain parameters for which stochastic models are available. Since these problems occur in vast, diverse areas of science and engineering, there is much interest in rigorous ways of formulating, analyzing, and solving them. This substantially revised edition presents a modern theory of stochastic programming, including expanded and detailed coverage of sample complexity, risk measures, and distributionally robust optimization. It adds two new chapters that provide readers with a solid understanding of emerging topics; updates Chapter 6 to now include a detailed discussion of the interchangeability principle for risk measures; and presents new material on formulation and numerical approaches to solving periodical multistage stochastic programs. Lectures on Stochastic Programming: Modeling and Theory, Third Edition is written for researchers and graduate students working on theory and applications of optimization, with the hope that it will encourage them to apply stochastic programming models and undertake further studies of this fascinating and rapidly developing area.

A popular way to assess the “effort” needed to solve a problem is to count how many evaluations of the problem functions (and their derivatives) are required. In many cases, this is often the dominating computational cost. Given an optimization problem satisfying reasonable assumptions—and given access to problem-function values and derivatives of various degrees—how many evaluations might be required to approximately solve the problem? Evaluation Complexity of Algorithms for Nonconvex Optimization: Theory, Computation, and Perspectives addresses this question for nonconvex optimization problems, those that may have local minimizers and appear most often in practice. This is the first book on complexity to cover topics such as composite and constrained optimization, derivative-free optimization, subproblem solution, and optimal (lower and sharpness) bounds for nonconvex problems. It is also the first to address the disadvantages of traditional optimality measures and propose useful surrogates leading to algorithms that compute approximate high-order critical points, and to compare traditional and new methods, highlighting the advantages of the latter from a complexity point of view. This is the go-to book for those interested in solving nonconvex optimization problems. It is suitable for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in courses on advanced numerical analysis, data science, numerical optimization, and approximation theory.

Moment and polynomial optimization is an active research field used to solve difficult questions in many areas, including global optimization, tensor computation, saddle points, Nash equilibrium, and bilevel programs, and it has many applications. The author synthesizes current research and applications, providing a systematic introduction to theory and methods, a comprehensive approach for extracting optimizers and solving truncated moment problems, and a creative methodology for using optimality conditions to construct tight Moment-SOS relaxations. This book is intended for applied mathematicians, engineers, and researchers entering the field. It can be used as a textbook for graduate students in courses on convex optimization, polynomial optimization, and matrix and tensor optimization.