Description

Optimization is an essential part of our daily life. Throughout human

history, man has always strived to master his physical environment by making

the best use of the available resources. Maximizing the capital gain in an

investment, maximizing the profit in running a business, and finding a shortest path

to a destination on a journey are instances of general optimization activities. In

everyday life, we come across several problems, which we solve merely with our

wisdom and experience. Optimization theory is one of the liveliest and most

exciting branches of operations research and is summed up in the words of the great

mathematician L. Euler who once remarked that nothing takes place in the

world whose meaning is not that of some maximum or minimum. While taking

decisions on any optimization problem, we always aim at reaching a solution,

which is the best under its circumstances.