Skip the navigation  How to solve optimization problems with
Excel and Solver  Whether it's minimizing costs or maximizing
returns, this excerpt from the book Data Smart shows you how to
use Excel's Solver add-in  By John W. Foreman February 18, 2014
06:18 AM ET  An optimization problem is one where you have to
make the best decision (choose the best investments, minimize
your company's costs, find the class schedule with the fewest
morning classes, or so on). In optimization models then, the
words "minimize" and "maximize" come up a lot when articulating
an objective.  In data science, many of the practices, whether
that's artificial intelligence, data mining, or forecasting, are
actually just some data prep plus a model-fitting step that's
actually an optimization model. We'll start with a little
practice with optimization now. Just a taste.  In Excel,
optimization problems are solved using an Add-In that ships with
Excel called Solver.  On Windows, Solver may be added in by
going to File (in Excel 2007 it'