MATH 164
Optimization
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Enforced requisites: courses 115A, 131A. Not open for credit to students with credit for former Electrical Engineering 136. Fundamentals of optimization. Linear programming: basic solutions, simplex method, duality theory. Unconstrained optimization, Newton method for minimization. Nonlinear programming, optimality conditions for constrained problems. Additional topics from linear and nonlinear programming. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
2 of 6
AD
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2020 - It is a pretty decent class. The material covered is very useful, but the lectures often delve waaaaay too deep into the theoretical stuff. None of the exam questions were like that, as they all focus on application rather than theory. Speaking of the exam, the final exam was just like the one given as practice. I thought it was going to be harder due to the online format (since we're given 24 hours), but it was definitely doable under 3 hours (I did it in 2&1/2 lol). The grading is a bit... mysterious? I have a 97.2% cumulative total, and still not an A+. I don't really understand how the TA grades the homework too... Sometime he just marks off something without explaining, and didn't reply to my email inquiries. :( The TA was definitely NOT helpful, he was unable to explain any concepts concretely at all. However, he basically did most of the HW questions in discussion... So I find them helpful. :) Overall the class was decent, and I would take another class with him again (but not the TA).
Spring 2020 - It is a pretty decent class. The material covered is very useful, but the lectures often delve waaaaay too deep into the theoretical stuff. None of the exam questions were like that, as they all focus on application rather than theory. Speaking of the exam, the final exam was just like the one given as practice. I thought it was going to be harder due to the online format (since we're given 24 hours), but it was definitely doable under 3 hours (I did it in 2&1/2 lol). The grading is a bit... mysterious? I have a 97.2% cumulative total, and still not an A+. I don't really understand how the TA grades the homework too... Sometime he just marks off something without explaining, and didn't reply to my email inquiries. :( The TA was definitely NOT helpful, he was unable to explain any concepts concretely at all. However, he basically did most of the HW questions in discussion... So I find them helpful. :) Overall the class was decent, and I would take another class with him again (but not the TA).
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2024 - I was pretty shocked by the low reviews. Prof. Kassab is a very fair and kind instructor. Some may complain that the tests were "proof-heavy", sure, but it's not like these proofs were hard at all. There were really only 6-8 of them that you needed to know, and she went over every single one in class (or left it as an exercise that can be found in the book). Really - not bad at all! She gave us a practice midterm which I found helpful. I didn't do too well on the midterm because it was rushed and I made some arithmetic mistakes. (Unfortunately, the exam rubric punishes arithmetic mistakes heavily, so be very careful in your calculations!) However, she has a fantastic, forgiving grading scheme that allows the midterm to be replaced by the final. During the final, there is wayyy more time than the midterm so you can do better. Another thing I found really helpful was that she gave us a list of final study topics. I don't know if it was just because we were online for 1.5 weeks this quarter, but she ended up cutting out a lot of content in the final, which made things super clear. (I think our final was lighter on content than the other 164 class.) She also gave an extra credit opportunity on the last homework! Pretty sweet. But, once again, idk if she only offered this to us because we were partially online. Finally, one more piece of advice: whenever Prof. Kassab recommends a proof, DO IT. Overall, Prof. Kassab is helpful and wants her students to succeed. It is really clear she cares about her students. She would even show us coding examples of some of the algos, which I thought was pretty cool. I am really glad I took this class.
Spring 2024 - I was pretty shocked by the low reviews. Prof. Kassab is a very fair and kind instructor. Some may complain that the tests were "proof-heavy", sure, but it's not like these proofs were hard at all. There were really only 6-8 of them that you needed to know, and she went over every single one in class (or left it as an exercise that can be found in the book). Really - not bad at all! She gave us a practice midterm which I found helpful. I didn't do too well on the midterm because it was rushed and I made some arithmetic mistakes. (Unfortunately, the exam rubric punishes arithmetic mistakes heavily, so be very careful in your calculations!) However, she has a fantastic, forgiving grading scheme that allows the midterm to be replaced by the final. During the final, there is wayyy more time than the midterm so you can do better. Another thing I found really helpful was that she gave us a list of final study topics. I don't know if it was just because we were online for 1.5 weeks this quarter, but she ended up cutting out a lot of content in the final, which made things super clear. (I think our final was lighter on content than the other 164 class.) She also gave an extra credit opportunity on the last homework! Pretty sweet. But, once again, idk if she only offered this to us because we were partially online. Finally, one more piece of advice: whenever Prof. Kassab recommends a proof, DO IT. Overall, Prof. Kassab is helpful and wants her students to succeed. It is really clear she cares about her students. She would even show us coding examples of some of the algos, which I thought was pretty cool. I am really glad I took this class.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2023 - I think the professor is AMAZING. I really loved her and honestly I think she is one of the two best math professors I had so far. She was very kind, sweet, helpful, patient, and communicative, and her lectures were engaging and clear. Her office hours were very helpful as well. BUT, I think the grading is kinda problematic. I had almost full scores for the quizzes and homework assignments, and had over 90% for my final, but still got an A-. My overall score was above 93 but still didn't receive an A?? It is my first time to see a math class that you couldn't get an A with an overall grade above 93. I paid so much effort throughout the whole quarter and did kinda well in everything I think, so I feel kinda unfair and sad. I have no idea why she curved our grades down/ move the cutoff up?? Anyway, overall I still think she is an extremely great professor and it was my great pleasure to take this class with her. She made it fun, enjoyable and manageable as it supposed to be a not-that-easy class. I appreciate it. But I think receiving an A depends on luck somehow even though you paid great effort and did well.
Fall 2023 - I think the professor is AMAZING. I really loved her and honestly I think she is one of the two best math professors I had so far. She was very kind, sweet, helpful, patient, and communicative, and her lectures were engaging and clear. Her office hours were very helpful as well. BUT, I think the grading is kinda problematic. I had almost full scores for the quizzes and homework assignments, and had over 90% for my final, but still got an A-. My overall score was above 93 but still didn't receive an A?? It is my first time to see a math class that you couldn't get an A with an overall grade above 93. I paid so much effort throughout the whole quarter and did kinda well in everything I think, so I feel kinda unfair and sad. I have no idea why she curved our grades down/ move the cutoff up?? Anyway, overall I still think she is an extremely great professor and it was my great pleasure to take this class with her. She made it fun, enjoyable and manageable as it supposed to be a not-that-easy class. I appreciate it. But I think receiving an A depends on luck somehow even though you paid great effort and did well.
AD
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2020 - Professor Li is not the best lecturer and I often found myself a little confused on where in the book we were. However, his tests are extremely similar to the homework and definitely manageable. The homework is in general pretty doable although you do have to code it with LaTeX which can be a little tedious and time consuming. In addition, some problems require you to use MATLAB which was a little difficult for me as someone who had never used MATLAB before. I would say expect to dedicate some time to this class early on in the quarter if you need a review on linear algebra or aren't familiar with LaTeX or MATLAB.
Spring 2020 - Professor Li is not the best lecturer and I often found myself a little confused on where in the book we were. However, his tests are extremely similar to the homework and definitely manageable. The homework is in general pretty doable although you do have to code it with LaTeX which can be a little tedious and time consuming. In addition, some problems require you to use MATLAB which was a little difficult for me as someone who had never used MATLAB before. I would say expect to dedicate some time to this class early on in the quarter if you need a review on linear algebra or aren't familiar with LaTeX or MATLAB.
AD
2 of 6
