Optimal control techniques have numerous applications in engineering,
economics, finance, biology, medicine, and many other fields. In spite of the util-ity of these techniques, the presentation of the topic of optimal control is normally
reserved for graduate studies within specialties (e.g., systems engineering). In this
chapter we present some illustrative examples in optimal control whose numerical
solutions are obtained using the built-in solver capabilities of spreadsheets. Our
hope is that the important and interesting topic of optimal control can be introduced
to undergraduate students in a less intimidating manner when spreadsheets are used
Keywords: optimal control, Pontryagin’s minimum principle, dynamical systems
