BUSI 520 Chapter 9: Enhancing Decision Making with Solver

infeasible

A(n) _____ solution results when Solver cannot determine the combination of decision variables to satisfy the constraints.

True

$C$9:$F$9<= $C$14:$F$14 could be used as a valid solver constraint.

True

Binary numbers of 1 and 0 can be used in Solver to assign whether a contract is awarded (or not).

True

Constraints are the boundaries that define the feasible solution area.

TRUE

Format before using solver to make sure answer report is correctly formatted

The Goal Seek command enables you to set an end result (e.g., the monthly payment) in order to determine the input (the price of the car) to produce that result. ***With Goal Seek, only one parameter (e.g., the price of the car or the interest rate) can be varied at a time. Solver can accomplish the same thing as Goal Seek, but provides additional functionality. Solver gives the ability to maximize or minimize the result cell, vary multiple inputs at once, provide contstraints (guidelines Excel must follow when solving the problem), and save your Solver parameters to easily "re-solve" the problem again if any parameters change.

GOAL SEEK vs. SOLVER

TRUE

INSTRUCT SOLVER TO USE ONLY POSITIVE VALUES

Unbounded

If Solver attempts the maximum number of iterations without the objective (target) cell converging to an answer, the assumption is that the solution is _____.

unbounded

If there are no constraints or too few constraints, the solution is _____.

False

Simply rounding the solver solution is an accurate alternative to using the integer constraint.

True

Single-dimensional ranges used within the SUMPRODUCT function can be oriented either horizontally or vertically, but cannot be a mix of both horizontal & vertical ranges.

target/objective

Solver inserts values in the changing cells until the value of the _____ cell has reached the specified goal.

False

Solver is limited to one input and one outcome.

True

Solver lets you set up a goal or objective cell and maximize or minimize the cell's result, or set it to arrive at a specific value.

False

Solver's "Changing Variable Cells" can be cells with either values or formulas.

TRUE

The Objective Cell (referred to as the Target cell in previous versions of Excel) must be a cell that contains a formula. This is the cell that is your ultimate "Goal."

TRUE

The cells used for "By Changing Variable Cells:" must be those cells that where you would normally do your trial & error. These are the cells where Solver will plug in values to arrive at the optimal solution. Changing/Variable Cells should only be cells that contain values. Variable Cells should NEVER be cells that contain formulas! If cells with formulas are specified as changing cells, those formulas will be deleted!

changing cells

The decision variables are the _____.

TRUE

Use Conditional Formatting to signify when a constraint has been exceeded

Solver

Use _____ to minimize costs or maximize profits.

TRUE

When using Scenario Manager, it should automatically remember the same changing cells as were used for the previous scenarios, so you should not have to reselect the changing cells.

False

When using Solver, the objective (target) cell cannot be a cell that contains a formula.

TRUE

When using solver, it will delete your values and replace them with the new, optimal values. After Solving, create an answer report to compare the old values with the new, optimal solver values. (Note: The values above are not Solver's correct optimal values.)

True

When you use Goal Seek, you are limited to entering values in a single cell to reach a goal in another related cell.

TRUE

YOU CAN DO MULTIPLE CONSTRAINTS IN SOLVER LIKE B12:C12>0 INSTEAD OF LISTING THEM ALL

Constraints

_____ restrict the values specified for the changing variable cells.

Attempting to maximize profit without providing any constraints

cause of Solver will return an error message: "The Objective Cell values do not converge."

TRUE

solver has an integer constraint to use so for example do not get 10.5 people

Hint: Use the Scenario Manager. (Data, What-If Analysis, Scenario Manager). Include the Numbers Produced, ALL of the constraints, and an extra cell I3, which should include the name of your current scenario (i.e. "Original Values").(I gave away too much with this hint...I really should not have told you what to use. I want you to be able to figure out which tool to use without such a big hint.)

what to use to save original values

nonlinear

It is more difficult to use Solver with _____ functions.

TRUE

One other error message Solver may sometimes produce is the "Solver could not find a feasible solution." This means that there's no solution to the problem using the constraints you specified. A valid solution does not exist for the problem above. There's no way to use a budget of $125,000 to reach an audience size of 10,000,000, while placing the minimum ads (4 and 10) specified in the problem. You'd have to tell your boss to either give you more budget, lower the acceptable audience size reached, or to lower the minimum ads placed for Magazine and Radio Ads. Relaxing any of these constraints may allow the problem to be solved.

True

Rather than entering separate constraints such as B4>=0, B5>=0, B6>=0...it is possible to enter a single constaint such as B4:B6>=0.

False

SUMPRODUCT ranges cannot have blank cells within the ranges.