The Art and Theory of Dynamic Programming


Book Description

The Art and Theory of Dynamic Programming




Dynamic Programming


Book Description

Introduction to mathematical theory of multistage decision processes takes a "functional equation" approach. Topics include existence and uniqueness theorems, optimal inventory equation, bottleneck problems, multistage games, Markovian decision processes, and more. 1957 edition.




Reinforcement Learning and Dynamic Programming Using Function Approximators


Book Description

From household appliances to applications in robotics, engineered systems involving complex dynamics can only be as effective as the algorithms that control them. While Dynamic Programming (DP) has provided researchers with a way to optimally solve decision and control problems involving complex dynamic systems, its practical value was limited by algorithms that lacked the capacity to scale up to realistic problems. However, in recent years, dramatic developments in Reinforcement Learning (RL), the model-free counterpart of DP, changed our understanding of what is possible. Those developments led to the creation of reliable methods that can be applied even when a mathematical model of the system is unavailable, allowing researchers to solve challenging control problems in engineering, as well as in a variety of other disciplines, including economics, medicine, and artificial intelligence. Reinforcement Learning and Dynamic Programming Using Function Approximators provides a comprehensive and unparalleled exploration of the field of RL and DP. With a focus on continuous-variable problems, this seminal text details essential developments that have substantially altered the field over the past decade. In its pages, pioneering experts provide a concise introduction to classical RL and DP, followed by an extensive presentation of the state-of-the-art and novel methods in RL and DP with approximation. Combining algorithm development with theoretical guarantees, they elaborate on their work with illustrative examples and insightful comparisons. Three individual chapters are dedicated to representative algorithms from each of the major classes of techniques: value iteration, policy iteration, and policy search. The features and performance of these algorithms are highlighted in extensive experimental studies on a range of control applications. The recent development of applications involving complex systems has led to a surge of interest in RL and DP methods and the subsequent need for a quality resource on the subject. For graduate students and others new to the field, this book offers a thorough introduction to both the basics and emerging methods. And for those researchers and practitioners working in the fields of optimal and adaptive control, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and operations research, this resource offers a combination of practical algorithms, theoretical analysis, and comprehensive examples that they will be able to adapt and apply to their own work. Access the authors' website at www.dcsc.tudelft.nl/rlbook/ for additional material, including computer code used in the studies and information concerning new developments.




Dynamic Programming


Book Description

This book provides a practical introduction to computationally solving discrete optimization problems using dynamic programming. From the examples presented, readers should more easily be able to formulate dynamic programming solutions to their own problems of interest. We also provide and describe the design, implementation, and use of a software tool that has been used to numerically solve all of the problems presented earlier in the book.




Robust Adaptive Dynamic Programming


Book Description

A comprehensive look at state-of-the-art ADP theory and real-world applications This book fills a gap in the literature by providing a theoretical framework for integrating techniques from adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) and modern nonlinear control to address data-driven optimal control design challenges arising from both parametric and dynamic uncertainties. Traditional model-based approaches leave much to be desired when addressing the challenges posed by the ever-increasing complexity of real-world engineering systems. An alternative which has received much interest in recent years are biologically-inspired approaches, primarily RADP. Despite their growing popularity worldwide, until now books on ADP have focused nearly exclusively on analysis and design, with scant consideration given to how it can be applied to address robustness issues, a new challenge arising from dynamic uncertainties encountered in common engineering problems. Robust Adaptive Dynamic Programming zeros in on the practical concerns of engineers. The authors develop RADP theory from linear systems to partially-linear, large-scale, and completely nonlinear systems. They provide in-depth coverage of state-of-the-art applications in power systems, supplemented with numerous real-world examples implemented in MATLAB. They also explore fascinating reverse engineering topics, such how ADP theory can be applied to the study of the human brain and cognition. In addition, the book: Covers the latest developments in RADP theory and applications for solving a range of systems’ complexity problems Explores multiple real-world implementations in power systems with illustrative examples backed up by reusable MATLAB code and Simulink block sets Provides an overview of nonlinear control, machine learning, and dynamic control Features discussions of novel applications for RADP theory, including an entire chapter on how it can be used as a computational mechanism of human movement control Robust Adaptive Dynamic Programming is both a valuable working resource and an intriguing exploration of contemporary ADP theory and applications for practicing engineers and advanced students in systems theory, control engineering, computer science, and applied mathematics.




Approximate Dynamic Programming


Book Description

A complete and accessible introduction to the real-world applications of approximate dynamic programming With the growing levels of sophistication in modern-day operations, it is vital for practitioners to understand how to approach, model, and solve complex industrial problems. Approximate Dynamic Programming is a result of the author's decades of experience working in large industrial settings to develop practical and high-quality solutions to problems that involve making decisions in the presence of uncertainty. This groundbreaking book uniquely integrates four distinct disciplines—Markov design processes, mathematical programming, simulation, and statistics—to demonstrate how to successfully model and solve a wide range of real-life problems using the techniques of approximate dynamic programming (ADP). The reader is introduced to the three curses of dimensionality that impact complex problems and is also shown how the post-decision state variable allows for the use of classical algorithmic strategies from operations research to treat complex stochastic optimization problems. Designed as an introduction and assuming no prior training in dynamic programming of any form, Approximate Dynamic Programming contains dozens of algorithms that are intended to serve as a starting point in the design of practical solutions for real problems. The book provides detailed coverage of implementation challenges including: modeling complex sequential decision processes under uncertainty, identifying robust policies, designing and estimating value function approximations, choosing effective stepsize rules, and resolving convergence issues. With a focus on modeling and algorithms in conjunction with the language of mainstream operations research, artificial intelligence, and control theory, Approximate Dynamic Programming: Models complex, high-dimensional problems in a natural and practical way, which draws on years of industrial projects Introduces and emphasizes the power of estimating a value function around the post-decision state, allowing solution algorithms to be broken down into three fundamental steps: classical simulation, classical optimization, and classical statistics Presents a thorough discussion of recursive estimation, including fundamental theory and a number of issues that arise in the development of practical algorithms Offers a variety of methods for approximating dynamic programs that have appeared in previous literature, but that have never been presented in the coherent format of a book Motivated by examples from modern-day operations research, Approximate Dynamic Programming is an accessible introduction to dynamic modeling and is also a valuable guide for the development of high-quality solutions to problems that exist in operations research and engineering. The clear and precise presentation of the material makes this an appropriate text for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate courses, while also serving as a reference for researchers and practitioners. A companion Web site is available for readers, which includes additional exercises, solutions to exercises, and data sets to reinforce the book's main concepts.




Applied Dynamic Programming


Book Description

This comprehensive study of dynamic programming applied to numerical solution of optimization problems. It will interest aerodynamic, control, and industrial engineers, numerical analysts, and computer specialists, applied mathematicians, economists, and operations and systems analysts. Originally published in 1962. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.




Dynamic Economics


Book Description

An integrated approach to the empirical application of dynamic optimization programming models, for students and researchers. This book is an effective, concise text for students and researchers that combines the tools of dynamic programming with numerical techniques and simulation-based econometric methods. Doing so, it bridges the traditional gap between theoretical and empirical research and offers an integrated framework for studying applied problems in macroeconomics and microeconomics. In part I the authors first review the formal theory of dynamic optimization; they then present the numerical tools and econometric techniques necessary to evaluate the theoretical models. In language accessible to a reader with a limited background in econometrics, they explain most of the methods used in applied dynamic research today, from the estimation of probability in a coin flip to a complicated nonlinear stochastic structural model. These econometric techniques provide the final link between the dynamic programming problem and data. Part II is devoted to the application of dynamic programming to specific areas of applied economics, including the study of business cycles, consumption, and investment behavior. In each instance the authors present the specific optimization problem as a dynamic programming problem, characterize the optimal policy functions, estimate the parameters, and use models for policy evaluation. The original contribution of Dynamic Economics: Quantitative Methods and Applications lies in the integrated approach to the empirical application of dynamic optimization programming models. This integration shows that empirical applications actually complement the underlying theory of optimization, while dynamic programming problems provide needed structure for estimation and policy evaluation.




Stochastic Control Theory


Book Description

This book offers a systematic introduction to the optimal stochastic control theory via the dynamic programming principle, which is a powerful tool to analyze control problems. First we consider completely observable control problems with finite horizons. Using a time discretization we construct a nonlinear semigroup related to the dynamic programming principle (DPP), whose generator provides the Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman (HJB) equation, and we characterize the value function via the nonlinear semigroup, besides the viscosity solution theory. When we control not only the dynamics of a system but also the terminal time of its evolution, control-stopping problems arise. This problem is treated in the same frameworks, via the nonlinear semigroup. Its results are applicable to the American option price problem. Zero-sum two-player time-homogeneous stochastic differential games and viscosity solutions of the Isaacs equations arising from such games are studied via a nonlinear semigroup related to DPP (the min-max principle, to be precise). Using semi-discretization arguments, we construct the nonlinear semigroups whose generators provide lower and upper Isaacs equations. Concerning partially observable control problems, we refer to stochastic parabolic equations driven by colored Wiener noises, in particular, the Zakai equation. The existence and uniqueness of solutions and regularities as well as Itô's formula are stated. A control problem for the Zakai equations has a nonlinear semigroup whose generator provides the HJB equation on a Banach space. The value function turns out to be a unique viscosity solution for the HJB equation under mild conditions. This edition provides a more generalized treatment of the topic than does the earlier book Lectures on Stochastic Control Theory (ISI Lecture Notes 9), where time-homogeneous cases are dealt with. Here, for finite time-horizon control problems, DPP was formulated as a one-parameter nonlinear semigroup, whose generator provides the HJB equation, by using a time-discretization method. The semigroup corresponds to the value function and is characterized as the envelope of Markovian transition semigroups of responses for constant control processes. Besides finite time-horizon controls, the book discusses control-stopping problems in the same frameworks.




Introduction to Stochastic Dynamic Programming


Book Description

Introduction to Stochastic Dynamic Programming presents the basic theory and examines the scope of applications of stochastic dynamic programming. The book begins with a chapter on various finite-stage models, illustrating the wide range of applications of stochastic dynamic programming. Subsequent chapters study infinite-stage models: discounting future returns, minimizing nonnegative costs, maximizing nonnegative returns, and maximizing the long-run average return. Each of these chapters first considers whether an optimal policy need exist—providing counterexamples where appropriate—and then presents methods for obtaining such policies when they do. In addition, general areas of application are presented. The final two chapters are concerned with more specialized models. These include stochastic scheduling models and a type of process known as a multiproject bandit. The mathematical prerequisites for this text are relatively few. No prior knowledge of dynamic programming is assumed and only a moderate familiarity with probability— including the use of conditional expectation—is necessary.