Additional Resources
OpenStax Online Textbook
How to Read a Math Textbook
Additional Instructional Resources
Optimization Problems
Objectives
- Set up and solve optimization problems in several applied fields.
Summary
While there is no single algorithm that works in every situation where optimization is used, in most of the problems we consider, the following steps are helpful:
- Draw a picture and introduce variables
- Identify the quantity to be optimized and find relationships among the variables
- Determine a function of a single variable that models the quantity to be optimized
- Decide the domain on which to consider the function being optimized; and
- Use calculus to identify the absolute maximum and/or minimum of the quantity being optimized.