Excel Advanced

Hello Stefania

Thank you for your question.

The idea of both goal seek and solver is that you are asking Excel to take a formula and make the formula's result or answer set itself to a certain amount/value that you specify.

With goal seek, you can do this by getting Excel to change only one of the cells that is referred to in the formula you wish to set to a certain amount.

With solver, you can do this by getting Excel to change more than one of the cells that is referred to in the formula; and you can also set limits or constraints on the changes it can make to those cells you've told Excel it can change. So Solver allows for more complex problem solving than Goal Seek.

I've attached an example for you.

In the Goal Seek example, select cell B9, then go to Tools - Goal Seek, and enter the following:

Set cell: B9 (this should already be in the box for you)
To value: 100000
By changing cell: B5

This will change the number in B5 to a value which will give you the result 100000 in cell B9.

In the Solver example, select cell B22, then go to Tools - Solver, and enter the following:

Set Target Cell: B22
The rest of the entries will be in there for you (hopefully).

Equal to is the amount that the result of the formula in cell B22 should be set to (100000).

In By Changing Cells you will see that Excel is allowed to change the values in cells B17:B20

In the Constraints area, you will see that there are limits on what Excel can change the values in cells B17, B19 and B20 to.

When you click Solve, the formula in cell B22 should change to show 100000 and it will have altered the amounts in cells B17 to B20.

I hope this helps.
Amanda