There has been much recent progress in global optimization algo- rithms
for nonconvex continuous and discrete problems from both a theoretical
and a practical perspective. Convex analysis plays a fun- damental role
in the analysis and development of global optimization algorithms. This
is due essentially to the fact that virtually all noncon- vex
optimization problems can be described using differences of convex
functions and differences of convex sets. A conference on Convex
Analysis and Global Optimization was held during June 5 -9, 2000 at
Pythagorion, Samos, Greece. The conference was honoring the memory of C.
Caratheodory (1873-1950) and was en- dorsed by the Mathematical
Programming Society (MPS) and by the Society for Industrial and Applied
Mathematics (SIAM) Activity Group in Optimization. The conference was
sponsored by the European Union (through the EPEAEK program), the
Department of Mathematics of the Aegean University and the Center for
Applied Optimization of the University of Florida, by the General
Secretariat of Research and Tech- nology of Greece, by the Ministry of
Education of Greece, and several local Greek government agencies and
companies. This volume contains a selective collection of refereed
papers based on invited and contribut- ing talks presented at this
conference. The two themes of convexity and global optimization pervade
this book. The conference provided a forum for researchers working on
different aspects of convexity and global opti- mization to present
their recent discoveries, and to interact with people working on
complementary aspects of mathematical programming.