Understanding the Excel program in its entirety is not something that is achieved at first, since it has a wide variety of tools that even allow us to export and import graphics. However, while they will facilitate any calculation work we do, they require specific steps for them to fulfill their functions and run correctly.
Many times we use this tool from our Microsoft Office suite and session for help with problems whose difficulty can complicate our work and, luckily, there are some add-ins that are useful to solve them more easily and make the experience of using Excel more much nicer. One of these is Solver, and today in Learn How to Do It we teach you how to enable it.
How to use SOLVER in EXCEL to solve problems – Enable the plugin
Index( )
- What is the function that we can give to the Excel solver function?
- What versions of Excel allow the installation of solver?
- How can I install solver in my Excel application?
- Procedure to activate solver once it is installed
- How many solving methods does solver have available?
What is the function that we can give to the Excel solver function?
In Excel, Solver is an analysis tool used especially to calculate the optimal value (either maximized or minimized), expressed as a formula in a certain cell, using and modifying other values related to it within the spreadsheet to solve relative problems. to linear programming.
What versions of Excel allow the installation of solver?
The Solver add-in is included in the Excel download or the Microsoft Office suite, and although for every update Solver has undergone over the years, new changes to Solver are found in every version, it can be used from Excel 2003 to the most up-to-date version .
Unfortunately, it is not yet possible to install Solver on the mobile app, so we must work with Excel from a computer to enjoy its features.
How can I install solver in my Excel application?
As we have already mentioned, Solver is part of Microsoft Office, therefore, once we have updated this platform, we will find it previously installed in Excel, if we use it from a computer. Even so, for it to work, we need to comply with a certain process . Learn How to Do It invites you to continue reading to find out what it consists of.
Procedure to activate solver once it is installed
Although Solver comes installed, in order to use it in Excel it is necessary to load it. That is, we must activate Solver to be able to use it .
To activate Solver, the first step is to open an Excel document , either the one that contains the data with which we are working or a completely blank one, since for now we will make configurations to the program that do not depend on any registered value.
While there, we must press the Excel Options button in the upper left corner of the screen. This will display a screen with the options available in the program and to continue we will have to click on Add-ons.
This will take us to a box to View and manage Microsoft add-ins , where we must select Excel Add-ins and then press the button to go. Now a box will appear with the available Add-ons. Since you haven’t activated Solver before, its box will not be checked yet. Therefore, we will mark it and click “accept” to complete the procedure.
The “Analyze” option will automatically appear in the Excel data tab and we can use it to maximize or minimize values when necessary.
How many solving methods does solver have available?
Solver contains three resolution methods that make it one of the most useful add-ins and positions it among the most used within the Excel program, as well as making it the perfect assistant to face and solve problems, such as those of linear programming.
The first solving method or algorithm used by the solver is known as Generalized Reduced Gradient (GRG) Nonlinear and is aimed exclusively at solving smoothed nonlinear problems presented in an Excel spreadsheet.
Another method we can talk about is Evolutionary , which will be of great help to us if we ever come across a smoothing problem that hasn’t been solved yet.
And finally, we have the LP Simplex or Simplex LP algorithm , which is specially designed for complex linear programming problems. It is the main reason that leads to activating this plugin within the program, since unlike the graphical method, LP Simplex has no restrictions. when dealing with numbers in the variables.
