Cover of Convex optimization

Convex optimization

by Stephen P. Boyd · first published 2006

66mentions
40recommended by
57HN commenters
2009–2026first – last mentioned

69% recommend29% neutral2% critical

Why HN recommends it

Standard, freely available textbook for learning convex optimization, with companion Stanford EE364a lectures and extra exercises. Builds a versatile math foundation for machine learning, statistics, and modeling.

Summarised by Claude from recommending comments

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Mentions per year

120 2007: 0 mentions2008: 0 mentions2009: 7 mentions2010: 3 mentions2011: 1 mention2012: 0 mentions2013: 2 mentions2014: 1 mention2015: 3 mentions2016: 5 mentions2017: 1 mention2018: 12 mentions2019: 5 mentions2020: 1 mention2021: 12 mentions2022: 5 mentions2023: 2 mentions2024: 1 mention2025: 0 mentions2026: 1 mention200720172026

What Hacker News says

  • TriinT · Jun 18, 2009 · Recommends

    …Mathematical Plays (by Berlekamp et al.) - Elements of Information Theory (by Cover & Thomas) - Information Theory, Inference, and Learning Algorithms (by MacKay) - Network Optimization (by Bertsekas) - Convex Optimization (by Boyd & Vandenberghe) - Nonlinear Control Systems (by Isidori) - Visual Complex Analysis (by Needham) - Lasers (by Siegman) - Game Theory (by Fudenberg & Tirole) - Trading and Exchanges (by Harris)…

    on “Reading list for those who love to learn” ↗
  • socratic · Dec 22, 2011 · Recommends

    …could actually vouch for would be: CLRS Russell and Norvig Introduction to IR (Manning et al) Database Systems: The Complete Book Others that I've heard good things about are: Dragon Book Convex Optimization (Boyd) Probabilistic Robotics Foundations of Statistical NLP I'd really like a good distributed systems or distributed databases book (rather than reading old Lamport papers or something), as well…

    on “Technical Papers Every Programmer Should Read (At Least Twice)” ↗
  • kxyvr · Jun 7, 2016 · Recommends

    …Wolsey https://books.google.com/books?id=x7RvQgAACAAJ For odd modeling tricks for integer programming, Logic and Integer Programming by Williams, H. Paul https://www.springer.com/us/book/9780387922799 For modeling tricks for convex programming, Convex Optimization by Stephen Boyd and Lieven Vandenberghe https://stanford.edu/~boyd/cvxbook/ For basic nonlinear optimization algorithms, Numerical Optimization by Nocedal, Jorge, Wright, S. https://www.springer.com/us/book/9780387303031…

    on “Applied Mathematical Programming (1977)” ↗
  • justokay · Jan 15, 2010 · Recommends

    …Durrett, R. (2005). "Probability: Theory and Examples" Duxbury. Machine learning research also reposes on optimization theory. A good starting book on linear optimization that will prepare you for convex optimization: 8.) Bertsimas, D. and Tsitsiklis, J. (1997). "Introduction to Linear Optimization" Athena. And then you can graduate to: 9.) Boyd, S. and Vandenberghe, L. (2004). "Convex Optimization"…

    on “Learning About Statistical Learning” ↗
  • chaitanyav · Apr 11, 2013 · Recommends

    …http://www-stat.stanford.edu/~tibs/ElemStatLearn/ Gaussian Processing for Machine Learning http://www.gaussianprocess.org/gpml/ Bayesian Reasoning and Machine Learning http://web4.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/D.Barber/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Brml.Online Convex Optimization http://www.stanford.edu/~boyd/cvxbook/

    on “Free pdf Books on Machine/Statistical Learning” ↗
  • thxg · Jul 3, 2021 · Recommends

    For theoretical continuous/nonlinear/convex optimization, your #1 is the bible, together with "Convex Optimization" by Boyd & Vandenberghe. However, beware that both are grad textbooks. They can be tough going at times. Unfortunately, I never found undergrad…

    on “Ask HN: Literature for mathematical optimization?” ↗
  • zekrioca · Oct 19, 2022 · Recommends

    Not OP, but probably Convex Optimization [1]. [1] https://web.stanford.edu/~boyd/cvxbook/bv_cvxbook.pdf

    on “Algebra, Topology, Differential Calculus, and Optimization Theory [pdf]” ↗
  • adamnemecek · Nov 8, 2016 · Recommends

    …(https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/0387848576( * Stanford CS131 Computer vision (http://vision.stanford.edu/teaching/cs131_fall1617/) * Stanford CS231n Convolutional Neural Networks for Visual Recognition (http://cs231n.github.io/) * Convex Optimization (https://smile.amazon.com/Convex-Optimization-Stephen-Boyd/dp...) * Deep Learning (http://www.deeplearningbook.org/ or https://smile.amazon.com/Deep-Learning-Adaptive-Computation-...) * Neural Networks…

    on “Machine Learning for Software Engineers” ↗
  • prakash · May 15, 2009 · Recommends

    Introduction to Information Retrieval: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0521865719/ Convex Optimization: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0521833787/ Foundations of Statistical Natural Language Processing: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0262133601/ Read Peter Norvig's review for Foundations of ....http://www.amazon.com/review/R3GSYXSKRU8V17/…

    on “Ask HN: After SICP, what next?” ↗
  • pz · Jun 19, 2009 · Recommends

    …the fundamentals of information theory was amazing. the proofs are easy to follow and explained well so you can match the intuition to formula. i'd also like to recommend Boyd & Vanderberghe's book on Convex Optimization (available here http://www.stanford.edu/~boyd/cvxbook/). This is maybe a little less fun but very deep and still well written and 'illustrated'. My background is in ML and I came to realize over time…

    on “Ask HN: good math books” ↗
  • lindbergh · Nov 30, 2015 · Recommends

    Convex Optimization by Stephen Boyd (Stanford EE364A) available on itunesU. There's also a CVX101 Mooc[1], but I don't how it's different from the original material. IMO it's not the topic itself, but the invaluable material…

    on “Ask HN: What's your favorite online course?” ↗
  • graycat · Jul 13, 2018 · Recommends

    Stephen Boyd's Convex Optimization, http://stanford.edu/~boyd/cvxbook/bv_cvxbook.pdf is gorgeous material. Large parts it are from theorems of the alternative, linear programming, Jensen's inequality, R. T. Rockafellar, etc., but Boyd…

    on “Foundations Machine Learning” ↗
  • dplarson · Oct 1, 2018 · Recommends

    For numerical optimization, a couple good textbooks are: - "Practical Optimization" by P. E. Gill, W. Murray and M. H. Wright: a little old (1982), but provides a solid foundation - "Convex Optimization" by S. Boyd and L. Vandenberghe: the standard for learning convex optimization (also available as a free PDF from the author's website) - "Convex Analysis and Monotone Operator Theory in Hilbert Spaces"…

    on “Ask HN: What are the best textbooks in your field of expertise?” ↗
  • atroyn · Oct 1, 2018 · Recommends

    …Robotics / Computer Vision: - Thrun et. al, Probabilistic Robotics - Multiple View Geometry, Hartley / Zisserman - An Invitation to 3D Vision, Ma - Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning, Bishop -Convex Optimization, Boyd

    on “Ask HN: What are the best textbooks in your field of expertise?” ↗
  • gradschool · Jun 25, 2021 · Recommends

    some "out there" suggestions: - "Extremal Combinatorics" by Staysys Jukna - "Convex Optimization" by Boyd and Vandenberghe - "Delay Insensitive Circuits" [1] - "An Introduction to Mathematical Cryptography" by Hoffstein, Pipher, and Silverman - "Quantum Computing since Democritus" by Scott AAronson…

    on “Ask HN: Technical Summer Reading List” ↗

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