Customer Reviews

Engineering Optimization: Theory and Practice, 3rd Edition

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a sucker for books on applied mathematics. This book ranks among my most valued ones, and is always within constant reach for reference on optimization algorithms. The book covers linear programming, nonlinear programming, geometric programming, dynamic programming, integer programming, and stochastic programming. A wide array of methods which seem impressively complete are covered in this 903-page book. The addressing of the topics is geared more towards making the reader understand how the algorithms were derived (which is welcome, in contrast to chasing up the original research papers), and using them. Just about every method is illustrated clearly with examples - a welcome feature of the book. One minor drawback is that all examples and exercises that are applied to engineering, are drawn from mechanical and civil areas (note: there are also many examples that are mathematical toy problems). Having said that, I must hasten to add that I am an electrical engineer, and I have no problem at all in using this book. Strongly recommended for people who work with optimization algorithms!

This work is one of my favorite all-around optimization books. It covers a lot of ground and it is very well written from a pedegogical point of view. Covered are a full range of linear and nonlinear methods, and for both constrained and unconstrained problem types. Also treated are geometric, dynamic, and integer programming techniques. Many of the algorithms within the book are presented with step-by-step examples which greatly assist the reader.

One downside is that I found the explanations of SQP and GRG methods to be confusing and insufficient. As these two techniques are among the more efficient and robust for many NLP problems (which are essential for engineering applications), this was disappointing. I hope Professor Rao will write a fourth edition with improvements in these particular areas. Otherwise, this book stands out as a useful and practical reference for both students and practicing engineers. If I had to have only one general book on optimization, this would be it. Other useful favorites are "Numerical Optimization" by Nocedal and Wright, "Practical Methods of Optimization" by Fletcher, and "Numerical Methods for Unconstrained Optimization and Nonlinear Equations" by Dennis and Schnabel.

Since writing the above review in 1999, I have become familiar with some of the more recent methods for linear optimization. If you are interested in linear/integer optimization, you may be interested to know that this book discusses the simplex method and its derivatives, and describes Gomory cutting plane method for integer programming. Lest you get carried away by the unbridled optimism expressed in the previous review , please note - this book does not cover iterative linear programming methods such as interior point methods, EXCEPT for a rather good, detailed description of Karmarkar's 1984 method (projective transformation), with a numerical example. Another omission is trust-region methods; however line-search methods are discussed. So if 0/1 optimization, interior point methods, semi-definite programming, trust-region methods is your cup of tea, shop elsewhere. I'm rolling back my previous rating from 5-stars to 4-stars on this count.

Dear Sir,

it has been over 6 months since i purchased this book and i still have not receive it.

i browsed through your website and found no way of contacting you..so i am using this as an avenue to say that please deliver my book. i need to use it.

Thank you.

Malik