Optimal Control of Nonlinear Processes: With Applications in Drugs, Corruption, and Terror - Hardcover

From the reviews:

"This textbook on optimal control of nonlinear processes introduces several innovations compared to standard textbooks on this topic. ... The software used is available through a companion website. The book can be highly recommended to students, teachers, and researchers interested in optimal control." (Walter Alt, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1149, 2008)

Dynamic optimization is rocket science – and more. This volume teaches researchers and students alike to harness the modern theory of dynamic optimization to solve practical problems. These problems not only cover those in space flight, but also in emerging social applications such as the control of drugs, corruption, and terror. This volume is designed to be a lively introduction to the mathematics and a bridge to these hot topics in the economics of crime for current scholars. The authors celebrate Pontryagin’s Maximum Principle – that crowning intellectual achievement of human understanding. The rich theory explored here is complemented by numerical methods available through a companion web site.