Spring 2027

Nonlinear Optimization I

Nonlinear Optimization I covers theory and algorithms for nonlinear optimization, focusing on unconstrained optimization techniques.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Yudong Chen3.7/5

Summary

1 / 5

Past student reviews · Michael Ferris

Assignments often required more than 14 hours to complete, with no penalty-free late days or assignment drops available.

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Graduate/professional standing

  • Graduate/professional standing
COMPSCI/ISYE/MATH/STAT 726 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Graduate/professional standing

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.67/5 from 3 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2023: 3.54 GPA, 71.7% A/AB (n=46 letter grades); Spring 2024: 3.36 GPA, 81.0% A/AB (n=21 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.31 GPA, 52.4% A/AB (n=21 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

MICHAEL FERRIS is recorded teaching in Fall 2009, Fall 2011, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2018, Spring 2022. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

STEPHEN WRIGHT is recorded teaching in Fall 2006, Fall 2007, Fall 2008, Fall 2013, Fall 2016, Spring 2018, Fall 2019. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

YUDONG CHEN is recorded teaching in Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 500
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 400
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 400
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 400

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Michael Ferris

Students found the course stressful, noting that the slides were confusing and final project requirements were not communicated clearly.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.31 GPA, 52.4% A/AB (n=21 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.53 GPA, 78.1% A/AB (n=32 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.35 GPA, 70.0% A/AB (n=20 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Michael Ferris

Assignments often required more than 14 hours to complete, with no penalty-free late days or assignment drops available.

Past student reviews · Michael Ferris

The instructor held good office hours, but homework solutions were usually not provided, and students needed prior knowledge of real analysis or linear algebra.

Topics

  • Unconstrained optimization: line-search, trust-region, quasi-Newton, and conjugate-gradient methods.
  • Derivative-free optimization, least-squares problems, and nonlinear equations.
  • Constrained optimization: gradient projection for bound constraints and penalty methods.

Skills

  • Apply line-search, trust-region, quasi-Newton, and conjugate-gradient methods for optimization.
  • Use derivative-free, least-squares, gradient projection, and penalty methods for constrained problems.

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
COMPSCI/ISYE/MATH/STAT 726 · Spring 2027

Nonlinear Optimization I

Recorded 2026-10-14
COMPSCI/ISYE/MATH/STAT 726 · Spring 2027

Nonlinear Optimization I

Recorded 2026-10-14
COMPSCI/ISYE/MATH/STAT 726 · Spring 2027

Nonlinear Optimization I

Recorded 2026-10-14
COMPSCI/ISYE/MATH/STAT 726 · Spring 2027

Nonlinear Optimization I

Recorded 2026-10-14
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Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
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  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
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  "output_id": "d075267cc5819d0c4f5af6947437430d658dd8d0d6d94144dbf98745dbef8963",
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