250 words agree or disagree to each questions
Q1
Before this class, I have had the opportunity to use Solver on Excel; however, I have never used Goal Seek. Based on research, it is believed that Solver is better and more useful than Goal Seek; however, I am not sure how true this statement is until I see how both tools work. According to the site Real Statistics Using Excel, Goal Seek “enables you to find roots of a polynomial equation and a variety of other problems which are typically solved using iterative methods” (Zaiontz, 2021). On the other hand, Solver is used for solving “a variety of regression problems” (Zaiontz, 2021).
Ultimately, to find the best solution to a problem in the world of business, you have to have access to apps such as Solver that allows one to find solutions rather than solve the problem on their own. While Solver can make life easier on the user, Goal Seek is not much different. With a Goal Seek, one can “what-if analysis” a problem by plugging in different assumptions until they reach the desired outcome (Goal Seek Excel Function, 2020). I see this process to be tedious and time-consuming. However, if the desired outcome is to make operations cost-efficient or make a profit (Goal Seek Excel Function, 2020), I can see how this can benefit the organizations’ overall performance in the long run.
While I have used Excel Solver, I am curious to see how Goal Seek works. Both tools seem to be handy in any analysis process to find a solution to complex problems. I am a little intimidated with using Solver and Goal Seek since one is new to my knowledge, and I cannot recall the process of using Solver from before. I think once this week is over, I will have more confidence in using both tools.
Ebru
References
Zaiontz, C. (2021). Goal Seek. Real Statistics Using Excel. Goal Seeking and Solver. Retrieved from: Goal Seek | Real Statistics Using Excel (real-statistics.com).
Zaiontz, C. (2021). Solver. Real Statistics Using Excel. Solver. Retrieved from: Solver | Real Statistics Using Excel (real-statistics.com).
What is the Goal Seek Excel Function. (2020). Goal Seek Excel Function – Step – By – Step Guide to What-if-Analysis. Retrieved from: Goal Seek Excel Function – Step-by-Step Guide to What-If-Analysis (corporatefinanceinstitute.com).
Q2.
Solver is an excel add-in that must first be activated to be used. It allows users to get an optimum solution when there are many variables and constraints. Based on the materials of this week, for an analyst, Solver’s basic purpose is to find simultaneous decision problems that deals with Linear Programming (LP), Nonlinear Programming (NLP), Integer Programming (IP) and find simultaneous solution approach in a fast manner. Some additional benefits of using the Solver tools are:
- It allows us to change multiple variables to find an optimal solution
- It allows us to better allocate scarce resource, data visualization and predictive analytics for larger data sets.
- It allows us to find solutions to complex problems using mathematical approach
For someone who haven’t used both Goal Seek and Solver until today, I must say that Goal Seek is a simple tool to use to achieve simple results. It helps changing and setting a value of one cell using the What-If Analysis in the Data tab to achieve a certain goal (Mankin, 2014). It differs from Solver by the level of complexity that Solver offers as it can handle one or multiple data compare to Goal Seek.
The issues I had this week was the ability to understand that everything must be built on formulas for solver to work otherwise error messages will occur all the time the “Solve” button is clicked. Additionally, I am still struggling with how to read all the reports available (Answer, Sensitivity and Limits). In our material this week we talked about vehicles routing examples and I found a short example that I thought explained the goal, constraints, data sets and results that were clear and helpful to understand that I should the class would benefit from by reading the article listed in references under Red Hat.
