Optimization

Abstract

Optimization involves computing parameter values or making decisions such that certain performance or quality indices are maximized, or, conversely, some penalty or loss functions are minimized. Optimization is an area of scientific research, and also has extensive applications in technology, engineering design, etc. Optimization problems involve a large variety of situations, such as optimizing the parameters of engineering structures, developing optimal policies in decision-making problems, and optimizing controls in dynamical systems. The application of optimization techniques can also involve fitting models to data by optimizing the model parameters in such a way that output of the developed mathematical model is as close as possible to the measurements.