I give a brief, non-technical, historical perspective on numerical analysis and optimization. I also touch on emerging trends and future challenges. This content is based on the short presentation that I made at the opening ceremony of \emph{The International Conference on Numerical Analysis and Optimization}, which was held at Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman, on January 6--9, 2020. Of course, the material covered here is necessarily incomplete and biased towards my own interests and comfort zones. My aim is to give a feel for how the area has developed over the past few decades and how it may continue.

I give a brief, non-technical, historical perspective on numerical analysis and optimization. I also touch on emerging trends and future challenges. This content is based on the short presentation that I made at the opening ceremony of \emph{The International Conference on Numerical Analysis and Opt...