This is a tutorial created for the CAP-REU (Computational Astronomy and Physics) program at UNC-CH during the Summer of 2013.
Author: Zane Beckwith
The purpose of this tutorial is to introduce undergraduate researchers to the 'flavor' (a broad overview) of mathematical optimization. This includes a brief overview of the field, including (hopefully most of) its subfields, and an extended 'play around' with a previously-coded Nelder-Mead ('Downhill Simplex') example.
The tutorial is intended to be self-guided and self-contained.