Basic Modeling for Discrete Optimization
The Chinese University of Hong Kong · View on Coursera ↗
Taught by Prof. Jimmy Ho Man Lee, Prof. Peter J Stuckey
Computer ScienceMath and Logic
About the course
Optimization is a common form of decision making, and is ubiquitous in our society. Its applications range from solving Sudoku puzzles to arranging seating in a wedding banquet. The same technology can schedule planes and their crews, coordinate the production of steel, and organize the transportation of iron ore from the mines to the ports. Good decisions in manpower and material resources management also allow corporations to improve profit by millions of dollars. Similar problems also under
The consensus
Every one of the 19 reviews we read gave it 4★ or more. This is the most-upvoted one (3 votes).
“I'm happy to rate this course 5 stars. It's challenging, and designed learner-friendly: The abstract concept of constraint optimization is framed by a story that provides real-world context, helping memorization when taking in the problem. The workshops are exhaustive, and the assignments are staggered to lead the learner towards trying again, increasing the score with increasing difficulty. MiniZinc is a good learning platform, regardless of whether or not you'll be actually using it. Out of the 20 or so data science courses I've taken on Coursera over the years, this one ranks top.”
Coursera's 4.8 comes from 460 ratings. Of those, 0.7% are 1–2★.
Starisk reads the reviews learners voted most helpful, and weights each by the square root of its votes: a review with 80 upvotes counts about five times one with 2. Unvoted reviews are not skipped out of laziness — by this model they carry no evidence that other students endorsed them.
That measures what the most-endorsed reviews say, not “true quality.” The rating distribution above is the whole population, so you can see the sample next to it.
Reviews read on 22 Oct 2026.Read them on Coursera ↗