Abstract Convexity and Global Optimization

Special tools are required for examining and solving optimization problems. The main tools in the study of local optimization are classical calculus and its modern generalizions which form nonsmooth analysis. The gradient and various kinds of generalized derivatives allow us to ac­ complish a local approximation of a given function in a neighbourhood of a given point. This kind of approximation is very useful in the study of local extrema. However, local approximation alone cannot help to solve