We attempt to solve the puzzle game “Former” (a variant of SameGame) using graph search algorithms: beam search, A* search, heuristic search and Monte Carlo tree search.

(Norwegian) Dårlige vaktplaner kan være en kilde til frustrasjon, og gode vaktplaner har stor samfunnsøkonomisk gevinst. Matematisk optimering kan finne gode turnuser på noen få sekunder.

Tags are used to classify and filter items in information management systems. We use optimization to find the most informative subset of tags in two real-world datasets.

Tags are used to classify and filter items in information management systems. In this article we investigate tag structures that lead to efficient information retrieval.

Suppose you have a target variable that’s bounded, such as a score between 0 and 1. How can Ridge regression be generalized to predict values in this interval? We create some optimization routines and present full Python code.

Given a set of football (soccer) matches and three outcomes per match to bet on, how should we place our money for maximal long-term growth? We generalize John Kelly’s idea from 1956 and solve it with modern optimization methods.

An optimization problem that involves distributing money to projects. I include code for two solution approaches: convex optimization with CVXPY and root-finding.

All over the world, teachers assign pupils to classrooms at the beginning of the school year. If each pupil has preferences for classmates, how can classes be optimally created?

Suppose we have a set of banks and their corresponding failure probabilities. If a bank fails, we lose all money deposited into that bank. What is the best way to deposit money into the banks?

Suppose there are two people in your household, and you wish to determine whether each one has some disease. You could use two tests, but if you’re clever you might get away with using one instead. This concept is called grouped testing and it generalizes to large-scale applications. Sometimes it’s possible to dramatically reduce the number of tests needed.

Given future electricity prices, how can we heat a hot tub in the cheapest way possible?

There are close to 15 billion ways to create a party of 6 Pokémon from 151. But which party is the best one? In this article we model and solve the problem using mathematical optimization.

The dynamic lot size problem is a classic optimization problem. I describe how to implement a linear-time algorithm for solving the dynamic programming recursion.

(Norwegian) Hvordan bruke en optimeringsmodell til å lage en plan for fagdager slik at (1) emnene er interessante for deltakerne og (2) hvert emne har foredragsholdere.

A set of patients are in need of kidney transplants. New kidneys arrive randomly via a Poisson process. How can kidneys be allocated to maximize the sum of extended life expectancy for the patients?

Sets and repetitions are essential building blocks in all strength training programs. In this article I present a novel idea: formulating the creation of repetition schemes as a combinatorial optimization problem.

I show that loading a barbell using a greedy strategy is guaranteed to use as few plates as possible. The more general problem of using as few plates as possible for several work sets is harder, yet it can be formulated as an Integer Program.

(Norwegian) I denne artikkelen løser vi fordeling av elever på skoler med hensyn til elevenes prioriteter og segregering.

(Norwegian) I denne artikkelen presenterer vi modeller fordeling av elever på skoler med geografiske hensyn, med og uten prioriteter.

Given a data set with apartments to rent, which apartments are best? I show that no matter your preference for square meters and price, the set of non-dominated apartments have intrinsic quality.