docs/reference-overview.tex

%!TEX root = ceres-solver.tex
\chapter{Overview}
\label{chapter:overview}

Solving problems using Ceres consists of two steps.
\begin{description}
\item{\textbf{Modeling}} Constructing an optimization problem by
  specifying its parameters and the terms in the objective function.
\item{\textbf{Solving}} Configuring and running the solver.
\end{description}

The two steps are mostly independent of each other. This is by
design. Modeling the optimization problem should not depend on how the
solver works. The user should be able model the problem once, and then
switch between various solver settings and strategies without touching
the problem.

In the next two chapters we will consider each of these steps in detail.