We provide a concise introduction to some methods for solving nonlinear optimization problems. This dissertation includes a literature study of the formal theory necessary for understanding optimization and an investigation of the algorithms available for solving a special class of the non-linear programming problem, namely the quadratic programming problem. It was not the intention of this dissertation to discuss all possible algorithms for solving the quadratic programming problem, therefore certain algorithms for convex and non-convex quadratic programming problems . Some of the algorithms were selected arbitrarily, because limited information was available comparing the eciency of the various algorithms
