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An Introduction to Optimization, 2nd Edition Review by Danial Lee Sellers

Rigor-Envy

I can only speak on the linear programming section in this book. This is an awful text for undergraduates. This is a math text written by engineers who have a huge case of mathematical rigor-envy. They sacrifice all context, specificity, and practicality in lieu of a ridiculus level of mathematical generality. I am experienced in upper division proofing. I found myself reading and understanding every line of the proofs( of which there are many!) and still having no idea what had just been demonstrated. If you already have a PhD in pure mathematics, then this might be the book for you. If you are an undergraduate, stay away! If you need this book for a linear programming course, do youself a favor and also buy Linear Programming be Vasek Chvatal. The Chvatal text is the premier text on LP. It's only disadvantage is that it does not cover interior point methods, but this material can be easily supplemented from other sources. If yor are a prof. and are considering using this book for a undergraduate course, don't. Do your students some good and use a better text.