Optimization: Excel Solver

The approach from the previous chapter can be extended to more input variables, resources, or constraints and to include different types of variables such as binary and integer variables, and in other ways, but there is a trade-off between precision and calculation time (as with any simulation) that makes it unattractive to use this approach in Excel for many problems of realistic size. This motivates the use of the Excel Solver add-in. Chapter 10 covers Solver in a rather routine way, covering linear, integer, binary, and nonlinear programming while tying it as much as possible to the previous chapters.