Especially pleasing is the rich duality which pervades the subject, and the fact that every proof can be both elegant and constructive (i.e., essentially algorithmic).

The textbook is Network Flows and Monotropic Optimization (Rockafellar), which has previously been available from Wiley but has been republished in 1998 by Athena Scientific at a much lower price. (A number of copies of the Wiley edition are available for inspection in the Mathematics Library.) Chapters 1-7 of the book will be covered, but some topics will be skipped, especially in Chapters 4 and 5, while the discussion of Chapter 7 will be augmented to include aspects of Chapters 8 and 9. Grades will be based on weekly homework assignments from the text.

There are no special prerequisites to this course, but rigorous mathematical thinking of the kind fostered in other mathematics courses at the 400 and 500 level is demanded throughout. In fact the material serves extremely well as a laboratory for such thinking and for sharpening skills in the setting up of mathematical models.