Review of Papalambros and Wilde’s principles of optimal design: modeling and computation 3nd edition

Excerpt

In my review of the 2nd edition of this textbook for the AIAA Journal (2001, p. 1414) I wrote the following; “The writer of a textbook has a conflict to resolve. On the one hand it is desirable to include in the textbook material that would be of interest to the widest audience, while on the other hand, it is desirable to put material close to the author’s heart. The first edition of Papalambros and Wilde’s Principles of Optimal Design leaned in the direction of emphasis on material close to the heart of the authors, in particular monotonicity analysis. The second edition improves the balance, and the result is a textbook that should be useful to a much wider audience.” Seventeen years later, the third edition goes even further in this direction. It reflects the fact that over the intervening years advances in computer speed and the development of better algorithms have brought global optimization to within reach for many practical optimization problems. …