Faced with the challenge of solving the hard optimization problems that abound in the real world, existing methods often encounter great difficulties. Important applications in business, engineering or economics cannot be tackled by the techniques that have formed the predominant focus of academic research throughout the past three decades. Exact and heuristic approaches are dramatically changing our ability to solve problems of practical significance and are extending the frontier of problems that can be handled effectively. This monograph details state-of-the-art optimization methods, both exact and heuristic, for the LOP. The authors employ the LOP to illustrate contemporary optimization technologies as well as how to design successful implementations of exact and heuristic procedures. Therefore, they do not limit the scope of this book to the LOP, but on the contrary, provide the reader with the background and practical strategies in optimization to tackle different combinatorial problems.
From the reviews:
"The authors had two main goals when writing the text. The first was simply to survey the literature on the LOP. ... the second was to use the LOP as a vehicle for introducing key concepts of combinatorial optimization to the reader. ... the book will be attractive only to established researchers who need or want to learn about the LOP ... . The book is written in a very readable style and ... the material is ordered in a logical way." (Adam Letchford, Interfaces, Vol. 42 (3), May-June, 2012)
"The authors had two main goals when writing the text. The first was simply to survey the literature on the LOP. ... the second was to use the LOP as a vehicle for introducing key concepts of combinatorial optimization to the reader. ... the book will be attractive only to established researchers who need or want to learn about the LOP ... . The book is written in a very readable style and ... the material is ordered in a logical way." (Adam Letchford, Interfaces, Vol. 42 (3), May-June, 2012)