Optimal Control Theory: An Introduction (Dover Books on Electrical Engineering)

Some books on Optimal Control seem to be written for people who have been studying it and using it for decades. They use the notations of modern mathematics like set theory that I never learned the first time around. This book is different. It's an excellent introduction for those of us who know math, including vector and matrix calculus, but don't "speak the lingo" of professionals in the field. I've been looking for decades for a book that speaks MY language, and doesn't try to snow me with a lot of lemmas and proofs. I think I've found it.

The front cover is messed up! But the book, what shall i say, Exceptional! This is one of the best books that I have read on control theory. The author has done an amazing job by writing in a lucid but complete fashion. Gone are the days when people knew how to write books that could be unterstood easily. Pure classic!

My professor chose this book to use in an Optimal Control class partly because it is very affordable. On top of that, its contents are superb, giving very clear explanations of the fundamental principles underlying Optimal Control for nonlinear/linear systems. Despite its long history, I would think that all material are still relevant, although there are available more "modern" numerical techniques (nonetheless, it's still always good to know how things were done "back in those days"). I would grade this as a must-have for the beginning student in Optimal Control. I have always been a fan of Dover books, publishing quality books at rock bottom prices. This one has just reinforced my liking of Dover Publishing.

This book is very useful for studying optimal control theory. It provides a clear explanation. I'd like to recommend it.

This is a well-written, easy-to-follow text on deterministic optimal control. Lots of explanations, although somewhat tedious, e.g. many cases and pages for the boundary conditions in Pontryagin's principle; [Flemming and Rishel] has one single theorem that covers them all. But [FR] is a math text, Kirk's is an engineering text. The text is intended for undergraduate seniors and first-year graduates. There are selected answers to exercises.

I bought this book for my Optimal Control class and it was just amazing. Very fun to read and just enough depth so that you do not get overwhelm. Really suggest it to anyone who is interested in the subject or need background on Dynamic Optimization and Optimal control.

Good book for starting optimal control!

Kirk is a great teacher writer and a master at connecting control theory with the calculus of variations

A classic text. Somewhat large mathematical explanations. Lacks of Matlab script plus liapunov principles.

Every well written book. The author takes it one step at a time as the concept become more complex. Easier to follow than I expected when I first went through the book.

The book is absolute beauty for the beginners. It doesn't assume that the reader has some or the other prior knowledge of the subject. It takes you through the journey of almost all the important material on optimal control. However, for practitioners, this may be a let down as it lacks advanced examples and real life problems.

Excelente conteúdo. Veio bem embalado.

The book is very good on the subject. This is a book that was used during of of my couse on optimal control, but even there the course just used a little bit of the book. The book itself is very complete and explain the subject clearly.