Linear and Integer Programming

10/10 stars
based on  39 reviews

Linear and Integer Programming

Free

This course is available On demand

This course is provided by Coursera Coursera

Course Description

Instructors:  Sriram Sankaranarayanan, Shalom D. Ruben
School:  University of Colorado Boulder
This course will cover the very basic ideas in optimization. Topics include the basic theory and algorithms behind linear and integer linear programming along with some of the important applications. We will also explore the theory of convex polyhedra using linear programming.

Ratings Summary

Average Content rating
10/10 stars
based on  39 reviews
Average Instructor rating
9/10 stars
based on  4 reviews
Average Provider rating
9/10 stars
based on  4112 reviews

39 Reviews for Linear and Integer Programming

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soesilo wijono profile image
Student rates this course 10/10 stars Completed
I agree this is another one best course from Coursera. Well structured, with a lot of examples given in the video lecture and PDF slides. You won't need to be rocket scientist to understand this course. Prof. Sriram was answering questions every day in the forum! Wow. I would say the professor knows very well how to teach.
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Kristina Šekrst profile image
Student rates this course 10/10 stars Completed
I have to agree that this is one of the best courses offered. I knew I was in love with it when the first quiz was like "how many As are there in professor Sankaranarayanan's surname?". I always wanted to learn more about the Simplex algorithm, and the lectures and the quizzes helped a lot in visualizing the problems, and with learning interesting new optimizations. Great job, and a huge recommendation!
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Greg Hamel profile image
Student rates this course 8/10 stars Completed
Linear and Integer Programming is a 7-week course covering linear programming in detail. The course focuses on teaching the simplex method for optimizing systems linear equations with constraints for the first 4 weeks and then covers integer programming and applications. You should be comfortable with basic linear algebra and calculus before taking this course. The course includes optional programming assignments that allow students to build up their own simplex algorithms over the course of the class, but you can easily pass the course just taking the weekly quizzes. Linear and Integer Programming does an admirable job tacking a dense, dry subject. The instructors are easy to understand and explain confusing concepts well. The presentation style and video quality seem a bit dated, but it doesn't detract much from the learning experience. I must admit that my interest waned as the course went on because I took it due to curiosity than rather than a preexisting interest in the subject. That was a mistake. You should not take this course for fun; take it if you really want to learn about linear programming and have the time to get through all the lectures, supplementary materials and programming assignments. Overall, Linear and Integer Programming is a great course if you want to learn about the simplex algorithm in depth and understand important considerations and applications of linear and integer programming.
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Kristina Šekrst profile image
Student rates this course 10/10 stars Completed
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Christopher D'Souza profile image
Student rates this course 10/10 stars Completed
This was my first math course on a MOOC platform. However it does not entirely deal with the mathematics related with linear programming but also includes some interesting applications, implementing algorithms in your favorite programming language, exposure to scientific computing packages like matlab, cvx and glpk and various optimization techniques. It is a good blend topics that compliment each other and you don't need to be familiar with all of these in order to complete the course. The professors have worked a lot on the material for students to understand the lectures and the presentations were very clear. For me, the programming assignments were quite intimidating but after going through the lecture videos, i was able to complete it. This course has objective problem sets as well and you can attempt either of them (programming assignments or problem sets) in order to receive a certificate of accomplishment so it's a good course for someone with no programming experience to learn about linear optimization (not just linear programming). It is also a great way to learn programming if you are willing to attempt the programing assignments as the lecturers do an excellent job in explaining the simplex algorithm step by step so you don't miss a single detail of how it is implemented on a computer. Even though if you don't wish to build your own linear programming solver, this course also introduces you to many useful LP solvers available in matlab/octave, glpk, excel and python. There was an active participation in the discussion forums and professor shriram was always there for clarifications on any matter related to the course; something which I've never seen in any MOOC I've taken so far. Although I've not participated in the discussion forums I found it very useful to visit whenever i was stuck as the issue was already addressed there. Overall it was a great experience to have successfully completed the course and the interest generated by the instructors will definitely encourage you stick to the end. This course doesn't just teach you about linear programming and integer linear programming but covers a wide range of optimization techniques and computing packages which give you a solid foundation on these topics and will encourage you to explore more.
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Richard Taylor profile image
Student rates this course 10/10 stars Completed
Where is a sixth star when I need it? This is just a fantastic course. The lectures are perfect, clear simple, well explained and with plenty of examples. The programming assignments are fun to do and challenging. The instructor is all over the forums helping, fixing bugs, coding along with the students, answering anything. I've never seen that level of commitment in any other course. Hats off Mr Sriram. Anyone interested in Linear and Integer Programming will find the course fascinating. Totally recommended.
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Kevin Zhu profile image
Student rates this course 9/10 stars Taking Now
Overall this class is great. The Prof. explains math clearly. But I think some videos are not organized well. 11/03/2014 * Review the videos week 03 : Duality * No difficulty for this section * Should do some examples for initialization with dual optimization * should finish the PS03
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Duncan Murray profile image
Student rates this course 8/10 stars Completed
I found this course to be quite hard, although it was well explained. You do useful implementations of Linear programming, such as an optimal Diet planner.
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Ernesto Durante profile image
Student rates this course 10/10 stars Completed
I knew quite nothing about linear programming. I took this course to understand the subject; I ended up with the feeling its a great subject with many practical ramifications. I learnt about duality and about ilp (integer + binary linear programming). ILP is very fascinating topic with a lot of practical applications. The programming experience deserves 5 stars. You start by implementing the simplex algorithm and step by step (with some extra effort) you have a full working LP + ILP package. Both Professors are great. They explains hard topics very concisely and clearly. A particular mention goes to Prof. Sriram, he was intensely involved in the discurssion forum and in carrying of the course. What I dislike about the course ? I hope the course will have a part2.
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Student profile image
Student rates this course 10/10 stars Completed
Great course, great coverage of linear and integer programming problems. Professors were active on forums and helped with various issues, especially thanks to Siriam.
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Roma Gluskin profile image
Student rates this course 10/10 stars Completed
I was interested in an optimization course. I don't have any experience in the field. This course offers a relatively very comprehensive coverage of linear programming/simplex, and integer linear programming, occasionally dabbling in convex optimization. The course was very enjoyable, especially the programming assignments, even if too often I felt like it was intentionally oversimplified to allow a broader audience to participate. The course staff, especially Sriram, show an exceptional participation in the forums and are always glad to help (some questions were raised regarding the time they allow themselves for sleep). The university was hit by a natural disaster during this semester, and yet the course continued without a hitch - amazing dedication on the instructors' part. (reposting my review which I previously did anonymously)
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Connie profile image
Student rates this course 10/10 stars Completed
Better than I expected. To complete the course, I have to write a solver using any programming language of choice. I chose Scala to complete all programming assignments. The assignments were difficult but I finally learn the in and out of linear programming and integer linear programming. Professors are brilliant and the demos they showed in Matlab convinced me that a lot of applications are really optimization problems and can be solved in few lines of code.
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Branko profile image
Student rates this course 10/10 stars Completed
Excellent course. LP& IP programming are presented in a gradual and thorough fashion, and there is little ambiguity left after watching the lectures. Also, professors (especially Sriram) are very active on the forums.
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Hugo Rothuizen profile image
Student rates this course 10/10 stars Completed
Very motivating course in all respects, particularly due to the teaching style of the videos and the well-calibrated challenge offered by the programming assignments. Just good (euro-style understatement).
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Student profile image
Student rates this course 8/10 stars Completed
Amazing course, especially Sriram's lectures. I was never able o appreciate Duality concept before taking this course. I hought, there should have been more discussions on interior point methods and some more lectures on applications (other than Sudoku ).
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Maurizio Spadari profile image
Student rates this course 9/10 stars Completed
I agree with other review. This one of the best courses I have followed: the lectures were extremely clear and also instructors kept the right pace (not too slow or not too fast). Assignments and quizzes always related to presentation. Also to recommend the fact that almost all answers on the forum got a reply from the instructors in just a few hours.
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Student profile image
Student rates this course 10/10 stars Completed
This is one of the best courses on Coursera. It was very useful. The deep understanding of both the professors about the subject as well as their passion for teaching is quite apparent from the lectures. All in all, a most enjoyable experience. -Soumen
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David Siegel profile image
Student rates this course 9/10 stars Completed
One of the best Coursera courses I've taken. Prof. Sankaranarayanan was exceptionally available on the discussion forums.
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Student profile image
Student rates this course 10/10 stars Completed
This course is simply one of the best courses from Coursera. Very well structured, a lot of examples given make it easy to be understood. The professor is very active in the forum, answering questions every day! Best course!
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Saravanan Thirumuruganathan profile image
Student rates this course 10/10 stars Completed
I had a decent knowledge in optimization already. However, I still learned a lot in this course. I had completed close to 15 courses in Coursera and I have to say that this is one of the best courses I have taken. While the list of topics covered might seem less, you will REALLY learn all of it. Sriram is an incredible professor. Take it if you are interested in optimization :)
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Rafael Santos profile image
Student rates this course 9/10 stars Completed
The professor is always very clear, incredibly active in the forum and the course is challenging enough: not too easy that you can just memorize lectures, but also nothing that will frustrate you or make you lose your entire week in one single problem. One of the best courses I took
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Dan Urban profile image
Student rates this course 10/10 stars Completed
I had some linear algebra, statistics, and basic optimization background, but this was my first exposure to simplex, duality, and integer programming. I can't say enough good things about this course and the instructors. It's not quite as difficult or time consuming as, say, Coursera's algorithms (through Stanford) course, but it still offers challenges at multiple levels. If the basics of simplex bore you, for instance, the proofs will not. The instructors select and present their material in an exceptionally clear, insight-giving way. You will come away feeling you have learned a ton!
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Student profile image
Student rates this course 10/10 stars Completed
I was interested in an optimization course. I don't have any experience in the field. This course offers a relatively very comprehensive coverage of linear programming/simplex, and integer linear programming, occasionally dabbling in convex optimization. The course was very enjoyable, especially the programming assignments, even if too often I felt like it was intentionally oversimplified to allow a broader audience to participate. The course staff, especially Sriram, show an exceptional participation in the forums and are always glad to help (some questions were raised regarding the time they allow themselves for sleep). The university was hit by a natural disaster during this semester, and yet the course continued without a hitch - amazing dedication on the instructors' part.
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Ritobrato Bhattacharyya profile image
Student rates this course 10/10 stars Completed
Deceptively easy looking and easy-going course, backed by two brilliant professors, encouraged by a fantastic University, and -- Coursera; with an undeniable sense of humor that "pops" a learner up from "stalling" while "optimizing"(if you want to know about these terms and many more, take the course). Great experience. Loved the programming assignments.
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Student profile image
Student rates this course 9/10 stars Completed
I had some experience with basic linear programming as an undergraduate many years ago, and no experience with integer linear programming at all, and I signed up for this course out of idle curiosity. It turned out to be a very rewarding course for me. It had a very good combination of methods and theory, with very good in-lecture quizzes in the videos and well-designed homework and programming assignments. I would have liked to see a little more of the advanced theory at the end of the course, and it could have been explained a little better why we weren't really changing subjects when we appeared to diverge to other kinds of optimization problems like least squares, but these are just quibbles. Overall, the course was excellent.
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Igor Sokolov profile image
Student rates this course 10/10 stars Completed
Course is better than it looks like. It is pretty engaging and tutors really cntribute a lot of effort to the forum and the course itself. At first took the course "just in cas", as yet another course on math + programming + can use python. At the end - it resulted in almost enjoyable course I've taken so far. Thanks a lot.
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Student profile image
Student rates this course 10/10 stars Completed
Interesting, well structured and a bit challenging. If you are interesting to learn about optimization this course is for you. I would warmly recommend it.
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Nazim Coindet profile image
Student rates this course 10/10 stars Completed
Version Française :) Sriram explique extrèment bien les principes de LP et ILP. Il est très pedagogue car il arrive rendre la programmation lineaire très facile à comprendre. J'apprécie aussi le fait qu'il donne autant d'énergie pour répondre à toutes les questions qu'on lui pose. Quant à La partie de Shalom, elle est extrémement génial: J'ai apprécié son cours sur le débruitage de fonction et adoré l'exercice applicatif sur l'optimisation des mouvement d'un robot (je suis un fan de robotique). Je recommande tout le monde de passer la prochaine session de ce cours ! English Version: Sriram explains extremely well the principles of LP and ILP. He is very pedagogue. He mades ​​linear programming very easy to understand . I also appreciate that he gives so much energy to answer all questions. Shalom part of the cours is also extremely great. I appreciated the de-noising functions lesson and liked the application on optimizing robot movement (I'm a fan of robotics !). I recommend everyone to follow this course!
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Sameer Gauria profile image
Student rates this course 10/10 stars Completed
I was familiar with linear algebra and programming, but I had not done linear algebra before. I really enjoyed this class, though I didn't expect to beforehand. Everything was taught very clearly. I found doing the programming assignments very interesting and very useful in really understanding everything. I would strongly recommend doing the course with the programming assignments (take a python course beforehand or in parallel if you need to).
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rradhak profile image
Student rates this course 10/10 stars Completed
Hi, A terrific course!! Theory and its applications well balanced. The best course that I have taken so far through any medium. One of the highlights of this course was how it was structured and the way it was presented. I have seen some other great course subjects in MOOC medium, which occasionally floods their presentation with so much of visuals to cause for some distractions while learning to some students. But this one was an exception because, the lectures were presented with only stuffs in it and with no fluffs, which made the learning process much easier. Thus I felt that I learned this subject, which is otherwise very difficult to grasp, so easily. I would recommend this course 100%
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