Book excerpt: Primarily designed as a text for the postgraduate students of mechanical engineering and related branches, it provides an excellent introduction to optimization methods—the overview, the history, and the development. It is equally suitable for the undergraduate students for their electives. The text then moves on to familiarize the students with the formulation of optimization problems, graphical solutions, analytical methods of nonlinear optimization, classical optimization techniques, single variable (one-dimensional) unconstrained optimization, multidimensional problems, constrained optimization, equality and inequality constraints. With complexities of human life, the importance of optimization techniques as a tool has increased manifold. The application of optimization techniques creates an efficient, effective and a better life. Features • Includes numerous illustrations and unsolved problems. • Contains university questions. • Discusses the topics with step-by-step procedures.