This open access book demonstrates all the steps required to design heuristic algorithms for difficult optimization. The classic problem of the travelling salesman is used as a common thread to illustrate all the techniques discussed. This problem is ideal for introducing readers to the subject because it is very intuitive and its solutions can be graphically represented. The book features a wealth of illustrations that allow the concepts to be understood at a glance. The book approaches the main metaheuristics from a new angle, deconstructing them into a few key concepts presented in separate chapters: construction, improvement, decomposition, randomization and learning methods. Each metaheuristic can then be presented in simplified form as a combination of these concepts. This approach avoids giving the impression that metaheuristics is a non-formal discipline, a kind of cloud sculpture. Moreover, it provides concrete applications of the travelling salesman problem, which illustrate in just a few lines of code how to design a new heuristic and remove all ambiguities left by a general framework. Two chapters reviewing the basics of combinatorial optimization and complexity theory make the book self-contained. As such, even readers with a very limited background in the field will be able to follow all the content.

This volume is a collection of research works to honor the late Professor Mark H.A. Davis, whose pioneering work in the areas of Stochastic Processes, Filtering, and Stochastic Optimization spans more than five decades. Invited authors include his dissertation advisor, past collaborators, colleagues, mentees, and graduate students of Professor Davis, as well as scholars who have worked in the above areas. Their contributions may expand upon topics in piecewise deterministic processes, pathwise stochastic calculus, martingale methods in stochastic optimization, filtering, mean-field games, time-inconsistency, as well as impulse, singular, risk-sensitive and robust stochastic control.

There are thousands of books relating to poker, blackjack, roulette and baccarat, including strategy guides, statistical analysis, psychological studies, and much more. However, there are no books on Pell, Rouleno, Street Dice, and many other games that have had a short life in casinos! While this is understandable - most casino gamblers have not heard of these games, and no one is currently playing them - their absence from published works means that some interesting mathematics and gaming history are at risk of being lost forever. Table games other than baccarat, blackjack, craps, and roulette are called carnival games, as a nod to their origin in actual traveling or seasonal carnivals. Mathematics of Casino Carnival Games is a focused look at these games and the mathematics at their foundation. Features * Exercises, with solutions, are included for readers who wish to practice the ideas presented * Suitable for a general audience with an interest in the mathematics of gambling and games * Goes beyond providing practical 'tips' for gamblers, and explores the mathematical principles that underpin gambling games

A new starting-point and a new method are requisite, to insure a complete [classi?cation of the Steiner triple systems of order 15]. This method was furnished, and its tedious and di?cult execution und- taken, by Mr. Cole. F. N. Cole, L. D. Cummings, and H. S. White (1917) [129] The history of classifying combinatorial objects is as old as the history of the objects themselves. In the mid-19th century, Kirkman, Steiner, and others became the fathers of modern combinatorics, and their work - on various objects, including (what became later known as) Steiner triple systems - led to several classi?cation results. Almost a century earlier, in 1782, Euler [180] published some results on classifying small Latin squares, but for the ?rst few steps in this direction one should actually go at least as far back as ancient Greece and the proof that there are exactly ?ve Platonic solids. One of the most remarkable achievements in the early, pre-computer era is the classi?cation of the Steiner triple systems of order 15, quoted above. An onerous task that, today, no sensible person would attempt by hand calcu- tion. Because, with the exception of occasional parameters for which com- natorial arguments are e?ective (often to prove nonexistence or uniqueness), classi?cation in general is about algorithms and computation.

In the quarter of a century since three mathematicians and game theorists collaborated to create Winning Ways for Your Mathematical Plays, the book has become the definitive work on the subject of mathematical games. Now carefully revised and broken down into four volumes to accommodate new developments, the Second Edition retains the original's wealth of wit and wisdom. The authors' insightful strategies, blended with their witty and irreverent style, make reading a profitable pleasure. In Volume 2, the authors have a Change of Heart, bending the rules established in Volume 1 to apply them to games such as Cut-cake and Loopy Hackenbush. From the Table of Contents: - If You Can't Beat 'Em, Join 'Em! - Hot Bottles Followed by Cold Wars - Games Infinite and Indefinite - Games Eternal--Games Entailed - Survival in the Lost World

Modem game theory has evolved enonnously since its inception in the 1920s in the works ofBorel and von Neumann and since publication in the 1940s of the seminal treatise "Theory of Games and Economic Behavior" by von Neumann and Morgenstern. The branch of game theory known as dynamic games is-to a significant extent-descended from the pioneering work on differential games done by Isaacs in the 1950s and 1960s. Since those early decades game theory has branched out in many directions, spanning such diverse disciplines as math ematics, economics, electrical and electronics engineering, operations research, computer science, theoretical ecology, environmental science, and even political science. The papers in this volume reflect both the maturity and the vitalityofmodem day game theoryin general, andofdynamic games, inparticular. The maturitycan be seen from the sophistication ofthe theorems, proofs, methods, and numerical algorithms contained in these articles. The vitality is manifested by the range of new ideas, new applications, the numberofyoung researchers among the authors, and the expanding worldwide coverage of research centers and institutes where the contributions originated."

Electoral promises help to win votes and political candidates, or parties should strategically choose what they can deliver to win an election. Past game-theoretical studies tend to ignore electoral promises and this book sheds illuminating light on the functions and effects of electoral promises on policies or electoral outcomes through game theory models. This book provides a basic framework for game-theoretical analysis of electoral promises. The book also includes cases to illustrate real life applications of these theories.

Spotlighting the field of Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO), this book illustrates and implements state-of-the-art methodologies within the complex process of aerospace system design under uncertainties. The book provides approaches to integrating a multitude of components and constraints with the ultimate goal of reducing design cycles. Insights on a vast assortment of problems are provided, including discipline modeling, sensitivity analysis, uncertainty propagation, reliability analysis, and global multidisciplinary optimization. The extensive range of topics covered include areas of current open research. This Work is destined to become a fundamental reference for aerospace systems engineers, researchers, as well as for practitioners and engineers working in areas of optimization and uncertainty. Part I is largely comprised of fundamentals. Part II presents methodologies for single discipline problems with a review of existing uncertainty propagation, reliability analysis, and optimization techniques. Part III is dedicated to the uncertainty-based MDO and related issues. Part IV deals with three MDO related issues: the multifidelity, the multi-objective optimization and the mixed continuous/discrete optimization and Part V is devoted to test cases for aerospace vehicle design.

The H control has been one of the important robust control approaches since the 1980s. This book extends the area to nonlinear stochastic H2/H control, and studies more complex and practically useful mixed H2/H controller synthesis rather than the pure H control. Different from the commonly used convex optimization method, this book applies the Nash game approach to give necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence and uniqueness of the mixed H2/H control. Researchers will benefit from our detailed exposition of the stochastic mixed H2/H control theory, while practitioners can apply our efficient algorithms to address their practical problems.

The book begins with an introduction to software reliability, models and techniques. The book is an informative book covering the strategies needed to assess software failure behaviour and its quality, as well as the application of optimization tools for major managerial decisions related to the software development process. It features a broad range of topics including software reliability assessment and apportionment, optimal allocation and selection decisions and upgradations problems. It moves through a variety of problems related to the evolving field of optimization of software reliability engineering, including software release time, resource allocating, budget planning and warranty models, which are each explored in depth in dedicated chapters. This book provides a comprehensive insight into present-day practices in software reliability engineering, making it relevant to students, researchers, academics and practising consultants and engineers.

Nature-Inspired Optimization Algorithms, a comprehensive work on the most popular optimization algorithms based on nature, starts with an overview of optimization going from the classical to the latest swarm intelligence algorithm. Nature has a rich abundance of flora and fauna that inspired the development of optimization techniques, providing us with simple solutions to complex problems in an effective and adaptive manner. The study of the intelligent survival strategies of animals, birds, and insects in a hostile and ever-changing environment has led to the development of techniques emulating their behavior. This book is a lucid description of fifteen important existing optimization algorithms based on swarm intelligence and superior in performance. It is a valuable resource for engineers, researchers, faculty, and students who are devising optimum solutions to any type of problem ranging from computer science to economics and covering diverse areas that require maximizing output and minimizing resources. This is the crux of all optimization algorithms. Features: Detailed description of the algorithms along with pseudocode and flowchart Easy translation to program code that is also readily available in Mathworks website for some of the algorithms Simple examples demonstrating the optimization strategies are provided to enhance understanding Standard applications and benchmark datasets for testing and validating the algorithms are included This book is a reference for undergraduate and post-graduate students. It will be useful to faculty members teaching optimization. It is also a comprehensive guide for researchers who are looking for optimizing resources in attaining the best solution to a problem. The nature-inspired optimization algorithms are unconventional, and this makes them more efficient than their traditional counterparts.

This book presents a novel unified treatment of inverse problems in optimal control and noncooperative dynamic game theory. It provides readers with fundamental tools for the development of practical algorithms to solve inverse problems in control, robotics, biology, and economics. The treatment involves the application of Pontryagin's minimum principle to a variety of inverse problems and proposes algorithms founded on the elegance of dynamic optimization theory. There is a balanced emphasis between fundamental theoretical questions and practical matters. The text begins by providing an introduction and background to its topics. It then discusses discrete-time and continuous-time inverse optimal control. The focus moves on to differential and dynamic games and the book is completed by consideration of relevant applications. The algorithms and theoretical results developed in Inverse Optimal Control and Inverse Noncooperative Dynamic Game Theory provide new insights into information requirements for solving inverse problems, including the structure, quantity, and types of state and control data. These insights have significant practical consequences in the design of technologies seeking to exploit inverse techniques such as collaborative robots, driver-assistance technologies, and autonomous systems. The book will therefore be of interest to researchers, engineers, and postgraduate students in several disciplines within the area of control and robotics.

This classic on games and how to play them intelligently is being re-issued in a new, four volume edition. This book has laid the foundation to a mathematical approach to playing games. The wise authors wield witty words, which wangle wonderfully winning ways. In Volume 1, the authors do the Spade Work, presenting theories and techniques to "dissect" games of varied structures and formats in order to develop winning strategies.

The progress of society can only happen through interpersonal cooperation, because only cooperation can bring about mutual benefit, thus bringing happiness to each person. This should be our collective rationality, but we often see it conflicts with individual interests, which leads to the so-called "Prisoners' Dilemma" and does not bring happiness to all. From a game theoretical perspective, this book addresses the issue of how people can cooperate better. It has two objectives. The first is to use common language to systematically introduce the basic methodologies and core conclusions of Game Theory, including the Nash equilibrium, multiple equilibriums, dynamic games, etc. Mathematics and theoretical models are used to the minimum necessary scope too, to make this book get access to ordinary readers with elementary mathematical training. The second objective is to utilize these methods and conclusions to analyze various Chinese social issues and institutional arrangements, with a focus on the reasons people exhibit non-cooperative behaviors as well as the institutions and cultures that promote interpersonal cooperation. In addition to economics, specialists in sociology, law, history, politics and management will also be attracted by this book for its insightful analysis on the issue of cooperation in these fields. Also, readers curious about Chinese society will benefit from this book.

This book is an introduction to the mathematical theory of optimal control of processes governed by ordinary differential eq- tions. It is intended for students and professionals in mathematics and in areas of application who want a broad, yet relatively deep, concise and coherent introduction to the subject and to its relati- ship with applications. In order to accommodate a range of mathema- cal interests and backgrounds among readers, the material is arranged so that the more advanced mathematical sections can be omitted wi- out loss of continuity. For readers primarily interested in appli- tions a recommended minimum course consists of Chapter I, the sections of Chapters II, III, and IV so recommended in the introductory sec tions of those chapters, and all of Chapter V. The introductory sec tion of each chapter should further guide the individual reader toward material that is of interest to him. A reader who has had a good course in advanced calculus should be able to understand the defini tions and statements of the theorems and should be able to follow a substantial portion of the mathematical development. The entire book can be read by someone familiar with the basic aspects of Lebesque integration and functional analysis. For the reader who wishes to find out more about applications we recommend references [2], [13], [33], [35], and [50], of the Bibliography at the end of the book.

The combined efforts of the Physicists and the Economists in recent years in a- lyzing and modeling various dynamic phenomena in monetary and social systems have led to encouragingdevelopments,generally classi?ed under the title of Eco- physics. These developmentsshare a commonambitionwith the alreadyestablished ?eld of Quantitative Economics. This volume intends to offer the reader a glimpse of these two parallel initiatives by collecting review papers written by well-known experts in the respective research frontiers in one cover. This massive book presents a unique combination of research papers contributed almost equally by Physicists and Economists. Additional contributions from C- puter Scientists and Mathematicians are also included in this volume. It consists of two parts: The ?rst part concentrates on econophysics of games and social choices and is the proceedings of the Econophys-Kolkata IV workshop held at the Indian Statistical Institute and the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, both in Kolkata, d- ing March 9-13, 2009. The second part consists of contributionsto quantitative e- nomics by experts in connection with the Platinum Jubilee celebration of the Indian Statistical Institute. In this connectiona Forewordfor the volume, written by Sankar K. Pal, Director of the Indian Statistical Institute, is put forth. Both parts specialize mostly on frontier problems in games and social choices. The?rst partofthebookdealswith severalrecentdevelopmentsineconophysics. Game theory is integral to the formulation of modern economic analysis. Often games display a situation where the social optimal could not be reached as a - sult of non co-operation between different agents.

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and optimal shape design (OSD) are of practical importance for many engineering applications - the aeronautic, automobile, and nuclear industries are all major users of these technologies.
Giving the state of the art in shape optimization for an extended range of applications, this new edition explains the equations needed to understand OSD problems for fluids (Euler and Navier Strokes, but also those for microfluids) and covers numerical simulation techniques. Automatic differentiation, approximate gradients, unstructured mesh adaptation, multi-model configurations, and time-dependent problems are introduced, illustrating how these techniques are implemented within the industrial environments of the aerospace and automobile industries.
With the dramatic increase in computing power since the first edition, methods that were previously unfeasible have begun giving results. The book remains primarily one on differential shape optimization, but the coverage of evolutionary algorithms, topological optimization methods, and level set algortihms has been expanded so that each of these methods is now treated in a separate chapter.
Presenting a global view of the field with simple mathematical explanations, coding tips and tricks, analytical and numerical tests, and exhaustive referencing, the book will be essential reading for engineers interested in the implementation and solution of optimization problems. Whether using commercial packages or in-house solvers, or a graduate or researcher in aerospace or mechanical engineering, fluid dynamics, or CFD, the second edition will help the reader understand and solve design problems in this exciting area of research and development, and will prove especially useful in showing how to apply the methodology to practical problems.

Stefan VoC and David Woodruff have edited a carefully refereed volume by experts on optimization software class libraries. The book focuses on flexible and powerful collections of computational objects for addressing complex optimization problems. These component class libraries are suitable for use in the increasing number of optimization applications that stand alone or are imbedded in advanced planning, engineering, and bioinformatics applications. Most researchers today use a number of modeling language software packages and a number of software solvers to solve computational problems. This book outlines packaged software class libraries to enable researchers to find cost-effective and efficient methods of getting problems coded into the computer, or into a modeling language package or into optimizing solvers - hence providing software coding solutions to whatever specialized needs a specific problem might require. Optimization Software Class Libraries provides the reader with a rich overview of the variety of components for framing problems. With the growing number of application-specific software systems and advance planning methods for specific classes of problems, class libraries for optimization are increasingly useful, practical, and needed. Benefits of Optimization Software Class Libraries are: Researchers will be able to invest more effort in examining better algorithms, performing experiments, and making use of problem-specific knowledge; The libraries that encapsulate general-purpose algorithms as reusable, high-quality software components are themselves significant contributions to ongoing research; and In addition to the research benefits, the libraries described providesubstantial practical value to organizations that adopt them.

Game theory is a rich and active area of research of which this new volume of the Annals of the International Society of Dynamic Games is yet fresh evidence. Since the second half of the 20th century, the area of dynamic games has man aged to attract outstanding mathematicians, who found exciting open questions requiring tools from a wide variety of mathematical disciplines; economists, so cial and political scientists, who used game theory to model and study competition and cooperative behavior; and engineers, who used games in computer sciences, telecommunications, and other areas. The contents of this volume are primarily based on selected presentation made at the 8th International Symposium of Dynamic Games and Applications, held in Chateau Vaalsbroek, Maastricht, the Netherlands, July 5-8, 1998; this conference took place under the auspices of the International Society of Dynamic Games (ISDG), established in 1990. The conference has been cosponsored by the Control Systems Society of the IEEE, IFAC (International Federation of Automatic Con trol), INRIA (Institute National de Recherche en Informatique et Automatique), and the University of Maastricht. One ofthe activities of the ISDG is the publica tion of the Annals. Every paper that appears in this volume has passed through a stringent reviewing process, as is the case with publications for archival journals."

The book presents new results and applications of the topological derivative method in control theory, topology optimization and inverse problems. It also introduces the theory in singularly perturbed geometrical domains using selected examples. Recognized as a robust numerical technique in engineering applications, such as topology optimization, inverse problems, imaging processing, multi-scale material design and mechanical modeling including damage and fracture evolution phenomena, the topological derivative method is based on the asymptotic approximations of solutions to elliptic boundary value problems combined with mathematical programming tools. The book presents the first order topology design algorithm and its applications in topology optimization, and introduces the second order Newton-type reconstruction algorithm based on higher order topological derivatives for solving inverse reconstruction problems. It is intended for researchers and students in applied mathematics and computational mechanics interested in the mathematical aspects of the topological derivative method as well as its applications in computational mechanics.

Explores the history, business, and technology of video games, including social, political, and economic motivations Facilitates learning with clear objectives, key terms, illustrative timelines, color images, tables and graphs Highlights the technical specifications and key titles of all major game consoles, handhelds, personal computers, and mobile platforms Reinforces material with market summaries, reviews of breakthroughs and trends, as well as end-of-chapter activities and quizzes New content in every chapter, from the PC-98, MSX, Amstrad, and ZX Spectrum to expanded coverage on mobile gaming, virtual reality, Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5

Optimization from Human Genes to Cutting Edge Technologies The challenges faced by industry today are so complex that they can only be solved through the help and participation of optimization ex perts. For example, many industries in e-commerce, finance, medicine, and engineering, face several computational challenges due to the mas sive data sets that arise in their applications. Some of the challenges include, extended memory algorithms and data structures, new program ming environments, software systems, cryptographic protocols, storage devices, data compression, mathematical and statistical methods for knowledge mining, and information visualization. With advances in computer and information systems technologies, and many interdisci plinary efforts, many of the "data avalanche challenges" are beginning to be addressed. Optimization is the most crucial component in these efforts. Nowadays, the main task of optimization is to investigate the cutting edge frontiers of these technologies and systems and find the best solutions for their realization. Optimization principles are evident in nature (the perfect optimizer) and appeared early in human history. Did you ever watch how a spider catches a fly or a mosquito? Usually a spider hides at the edge of its net. When a fly or a mosquito hits the net the spider will pick up each line in the net to choose the tense line? Some biologists explain that the line gives the shortest path from the spider to its prey."

A simple algorithm for solving a set of nonlinear equations by matrix algebra has been discovered recently - first by transforming them into an equivalent matrix equation and then finding the solution analytically in terms of the inverse matrix of this equation. With this newly developed ACORN (Adaptive Constrained Optimal Robust Nonlinear) algorithm, it is possible to minimize the objective function [constructed from the functions in the nonlinear set of equations] without computing its derivatives.This book will present the details of ACORN algorithm and how it is used to solve large scale nonlinear equations with an innovative approach ACORN Magic [minimization algorithms gathered in a cloud].The ultimate motivation of this work is its application to optimization. In recent years, with the advances in big-data, optimization becomes an even more powerful tool in knowledge discovery. ACORN Magic is the perfect choice in this kind of application because of that fact that it is fast, robust and simple enough to be embedded in any type of machine learning program.

This book is intended as an introduction to game theory which goes beyond the field of application, economics, and which introduces the reader to as many different sides of game theory as possible within the limitations of an introduction. The main goal is to give an impression of the diversity of game theoretical models, while at the same time covering the standard topics. The book has an equal coverage of non-cooperative and cooperative games, and it covers several topics such as selecting Nash equilibria, non-transferable utility games, applications of game theory to logic, combinatorial and differential games.

This is a textbook for university juniors, seniors, and graduate students majoring in economics, applied mathematics, and related fields. Each chapter is structured so that a core concept of that chapter is presented with motivations, useful applications are given, and related advanced topics are discussed for future study. Many helpful exercises at various levels are provided at the end of each chapter. Therefore, this book is most suitable for readers who intend to study non-cooperative game theory rigorously for both theoretical studies and applications. Game theory consists of non-cooperative games and cooperative games. This book covers only non-cooperative games, which are major tools used in current economics and related areas. Non-cooperative game theory aims to provide a mathematical prediction of strategic choices by decision makers (players) in situations of conflicting interest. Through the logical analyses of strategic choices, we obtain a better understanding of social (economic, business) problems and possible remedies. The book contains many well-known games such as the prisoner's dilemma, chicken (hawk-dove) game, coordination game, centipede game, and Cournot, Bertrand, and Stackelberg models in oligopoly. It also covers some advanced frameworks such as repeated games with non-simultaneous moves, repeated games with overlapping generations, global games, and voluntarily separable repeated prisoner's dilemma, so that readers familiar with basic game theory can expand their knowledge. The author's own research is reflected in topics such as formulations of information and evolutionary stability, which makes this book unique.