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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Very nice presentation on the subject. Enjoyable to read and easy to follow. Desciptions are concise and too the point. Book assumes reader has some background on modern control theory.

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

That's a great book! The author writes such way we do not need to search for a calculus book to study.