The third edition of this 5-volume handbook is intended to be a basic yet comprehensive reference work in combinatorial optimization that will benefit newcomers and researchers for years to come. This multi-volume work deals with several algorithmic approaches for discrete problems as well as with many combinatorial problems. The editors have brought together almost every aspect of this enormous field of combinatorial optimization, an area of research at the intersection of applied mathematics, computer science, and operations research and which overlaps with many other areas such as computation complexity, computational biology, VLSI design, communications networks, and management science. An international team of 30-40 experts in the field form the editorial board.

The Handbook of Combinatorial Optimization, third edition is addressed to all scientists who use combinatorial optimization methods to model and solve problems. Experts in the field as well as non-specialists will find the material stimulating and useful.

Panos Pardalos was born in Greece and graduated from Athens University (Department of Mathematics). He received his PhD (Computes and Information Sciences) from the University of Minnesota. He is a Distinguished Emeritus Professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Florida, and an affiliated faculty of Biomedical Engineering and Computer Science  Information  Engineering departments.
Panos Pardalos is a world-renowned leader in Global Optimization, Mathematical Modeling, Energy Systems, Financial applications, and Data Sciences. He is a Fellow of AAAS, AAIA, AIMBE, EUROPT, and INFORMS and was awarded the 2013 Constantin Caratheodory Prize of the International Society of Global Optimization. In addition, Panos  Pardalos has been awarded the 2013 EURO Gold Medal prize bestowed by the Association for European Operational Research Societies.