An Introduction to Optimization Methods

Course Description

Have you ever wanted to learn more about the basic concepts and techniques that lie behind optimization systems?

Audience
This course is intended for managers, planners, support staff and those who are considering introducing optimization systems. It has been designed to provide people who do not have a formal background in optimization a greater understanding of the principles behind the methods and how they can be applied. It also enables them to interact better with optimization experts.

The course is also highly recommended to those who will or have already attended our product-specific courses.

Prerequisites
None

Duration
1 day

Course topics
The course emphasizes the understanding of the fundamental ideas and principles of optimization through simple explanations and examples, and from these attempts to explain the possibilities and limitations of different algorithms and modelling techniques.

• What is an optimization problem?
  
• Algorithm complexity and the combinatorial explosion
  
• Standard algorithmic problems
  
• Basic algorithm design techniques
  • divide and conquer
  • dynamic programming
  • greedy algorithms
    
• Methods of discrete optimization
  • enumerative search
  • branch and bound
  • local search
  • linear and integer linear programming
    
• Optimal vs. heuristic methods
  
• Modelling
  
• Basic ways of modelling and solving scheduling and routing problems
  
• Case studies including Carmen Crew Pairing and Carmen Crew Rostering
  
• How column generation works