In all branches of human endeavor, in which it is desired to realize something, it is necessary to develop a project. This should define precisely the objective(s) to be achieved, all variables that affect its result, and the resources available.
It is a fact of life that resources are always limited and a project must, in principle, provide the best possible solution within these limitations. This process is called optimization.
Some privileged few have the ability to glimpse the best solution by intuition, heuristically. The vast majority of mortals need some tool that will guide them among the many possibilities in general. This tool is mathematics. In particular, differential calculus is a technique that deals with the measurement of changes in variables upon the value of a function. One of its virtues is to enable the determination of variables or values that maximize or minimize a function.
This book is intended to introduce students and practitioners from a wide range of project designers to tools to help them optimize their projects. The authors are structural engineers and therefore many of the examples will be of structural engi- neering, but the techniques available are common to various areas of knowledge and pervade disciplinary divisions.