Description: This text introduces the mathematical aspects of optimal control theory and provides insight into the application of this theory to biological models. It examines various problems, such as the continuous time ordinary differential equation, variations of the initial conditions, linear dependence on the control, and free terminal time. The book also features a range of biological applications, including immunology and epidemic disease models, management decisions in harvesting, and resource allocation models. With numerous examples and exercises, the text includes MATLAB codes throughout, enabling readers to modify the codes for their own applications.
Review Quotes:
". . . the present book has the merit of collecting and treating in a unitary and accessible manner a large number of relevant problems in mathematical biology; the text is well written, systematically presented, accurate most of the time and accessible to a fairly large audience; it could do a great service to the community of researchers in mathematical control theory . . ."
- Stefan Mirică, in Mathematical Reviews, 2008f