Notes on alpha stream optimization

Lecture Notes on Stream Ciphers and RC4

In these notes I explain symmetric key additive keystream ciphers, using as an example the cipher RC4. I discuss a number of attack models for this class of ciphers, using attacks on RC4 as examples. I cover a number of attacks on RC4, some of which are effective against implementations of RC4 used in the real world.

Notes on Constrained Optimization

where X is taken to be a known or given feasible set. In particular, we are interested in identifying x∗ ∈ X such that f (x∗) realizes the above minimum, if such an x∗ exists. Typical constraints include bounds on x, such as X = {x ∈ Rn : ||x||6 R} for some R > 0, or linear inequality constraints such as X = {x ∈ Rn : Ax> b} for a matrix A and a column vector b. More examples will be discussed....

Notes on Combinatorial Optimization

Notes on Unconstrained Optimization

A local minimum is a point at which the value of the function is less than or equal to all immediately nearby or surrounding function values. A global minimum realizes the smallest possible value of the function over all feasible inputs. In general, based purely on local knowledge of a function and its behavior, it can be very difficult to distinguish whether you have discovered a local or a gl...

Notes on random optimization problems

These notes are under construction. They constitute a combination of what I have said in the lectures, what I will say in future lectures, and what I will not say due to time constraints. Some sections are very brief, and this is generally because they are not yet written. Some of the “problems and exercises” describe things that I am actually going to write down in detail in the text. This is ...