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Minimization Example

If you are getting the incorrect answer then probably the worksheet is set up incorrectly or the Solver parameters are incorrect. Don't forget to set the solver options to assume a linear model and that the variable values are non-negative.

Here is how I set up my worksheet:

Model

The values in the "Constraints" column are entered as numbers. The values in the "Results" column are calculated values. I used matrix multiplication to find all of the results at the same time but you could also enter each result as a separate Excel expression.

Here are the Solver parameters for my worksheet:

Solver Parameters Dialog 

Notice that we are setting the target to its minimum value rather than its maximum as we have done before.