Math and CS can be imagined as two planets, but optimization and its implementation in problem-solving is quite its own. 6.7201's philosophy was set by Prof. Bertsimas, who declared that "This is not a mathematics class"; it uses math and CS tools to solve problems in healthcare, finance decisions, and transportation, among other fields. Still, the class contained a heavy portion of theory, like the simplex method for solving optimization problems and Gomory cuts for finding an optimal solution to mixed integer problems. The class involved a final project. My group worked on optimizing a fuel stations for vehicle transportation networks (specifically electric; though it is just as applicable for gasoline vehicles).

Noteworthy moments in class included Prof. Bertsimas demonstrating a Wordle solver, taking a few minutes to prove that the limit of the difference of two square-root terms went to 6 (a lighthearted moment, as a class of this caliber is not "expected" to need to resort to precalculus), and presenting the knapsack problem as a dynamic program, then considering an "extended" version in a ribbon-slicing (rectangle-fitting) context.