Sorry, its still unclear. Do you consider genetic algorithms, etc to be an example of (mixed-integer) non-linear optimization? Or are you talking about some oth

Sorry, its still unclear. Do you consider genetic algorithms, etc to be an example of (mixed-integer) non-linear optimization? Or are you talking about some other method? >"You can probably do this kind of hyper^n optimization as deeply as you like but I doubt it would lead you anywhere, given how terrible non-linear optimization performance on general functions is and how short the existence of Universe is." In practice you don't need to find the actual optimum though, just do better than the alternatives. This reminds me of "a single nn layer can approximate any function". Sure, but in practice a reasonable approximation will arise much easier with other architectures. EDIT: By "101" I thought you meant something like "low level" or "first thing you learn/try". Did you mean something else?