The main purpose of this book is to discuss distributed control problems governed by nonlinear parabolic or hyperbolic partial differential equations with nondifferentiable terms. The intended audience is researchers in optimal control. The author gives the theory and provides references to the literature.

The book is divided into four chapters. Chapter 1 introduces optimal control. Most of the results in this chapter are given without proof, but with a reference to the literature.

The other three chapters discuss three types of nonlinear terms in the state system. Tiba discusses the existence of optimal pairs, first-order necessary conditions, and efficient approximation procedures for each type. Chapter 2 is devoted to semilinear parabolic and hyperbolic equations. Delay systems are also studied. Chapter 3 is concerned with variational inequalities of parabolic and hyperbolic types. The last section of this chapter discusses an optimal design problem. Finally, chapter 4 deals with the optimal control problems governed by two-phase Stefan problems. The one-phase Stefan problem can be transformed to a parabolic variational inequality; such problems were discussed by Avner Friedman. The last section discusses the finite element discretization.

The book has few typos. An extensive list of references (145 items) appears at the end of the book. Unfortunately, no index is provided.