CST 5020 Convex Optimization, Spring 2026

Syllabus Textbook

Time: 9:50 - 11:25 on Wednesdays

Location: E10-306 on Yungu campus

Website: https://chemaoxfz.github.io/cvxopt


Background review

If you would like to review some of the background material, the following are some references that immediately come to my mind.

Appendix A, mathematical background, of our textbook, freely available here.

A textbook introducing linear algebra with an optimization perspective, from the same authors as our textbook, is also freely available here. A course using this textbook is EE263. The reading list of this course also has some background on matrices.

The “review aids” at the end of this course webpage. This is another good reference course on optimization with a more statistical and machine learning focus.


Schedule

Number Date Topic Materials Problem Sets
1 20260304 Why optimization, intro, convex sets    
2 20260311 Convex functions, Convex optimization problems    
3 20260318 Duality    
4 20260325 Approximation and Fitting    
5 20260401 Statistical estimation, geometric problems    
6 20260408 Unconstrained minimization    
7 20260415 Equality constrained minimization    
8 20260422 Interior point method