In mathematics, optimization is the discipline which is concerned with finding the maxima and minima of functions, possibly subject to constraints. An example of an optimization problem is the following: maximize the profit of a manufacturing operation while ensuring that none of the resources exceed certain limits and also satisfying as much of the demand faced as possible. Optimization has many practical applications in logistics and design problems.

In computer science, optimization is the process of improving a system in certain ways to increase the effective execution speed and/or bandwidth, or reducing memory requirements . Despite its name, optimization does not necessarily mean finding the optimum solution to a problem. Often this is not possible, and heuristic algorithms must be used instead.