Calc solvers - what to say in the Calc Guide

[Drew Jensen]

Well here is something
Looking at the help file for version 7
https://help.libreoffice.org/7.0/en-US/text/scalc/01/solver.html?&DbPAR=CALC&System=UNIX
the final text box states that 'only linear solvers are in the default
installation'.

However 7.0 Alpha1 build adds a choice of, 'LibreOfficeDev Swarm
non-linear Solver (experimental)' for an engine.

So, assuming that engine ships with 7 the text box in the help file could
go.



On Fri, May 15, 2020 at 7:02 AM Stephen Fanning <stevemfanning.wh at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Kohei and Drew,
>
> Many thanks for getting back to me on this topic.
>
> For the 6.4 update to the Calc Guide, I will follow Kohei's advice that it
> is probably beyond the scope of the document to provide guidance on how to
> select a solver.
>
> I'll try to make some time before the 7.0 Calc Guide update to re-visit
> this decision.
>
> Regards,
>
> Steve
>
>
> On Fri, 15 May 2020 at 07:40, Drew Jensen <drewjensen.inbox at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Tonight took the LO 7 alpha1 file and the one example workbook from that
>> Excel tutorial and ran each of the five solver engines.
>> For sure the LO CoinMP and LO Linear choices are crazy faster then DEPS
>> and SCO (The firth choice Swarm non-linear is just as quick but the results
>> are kaka, but it does say it is experimental).
>>
>> On Thu, May 14, 2020 at 7:55 PM Drew Jensen <drewjensen.inbox at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> hmm - there are bits and pieces here and there.
>>>
>>> For example the first two choices (DEPS & SCO) have some explanation
>>> over at AOO wiki
>>> https://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/NLPSolver
>>> If that is still relevant for LibreOffice I can't say, but likely.
>>> CoinMD (which I assume here is type of Coin-MP) has a lot of generalized
>>> references, even a wiki page with a paragraph or two that might be worth
>>> drafting for service here:
>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COIN-OR
>>>
>>> anyway - I'm just using DDG to search for info on the different solver
>>> types, and you get the idea.
>>>
>>> There is a couple of examples of tutorials the reference solvers in Calc
>>> (one of which actually uses the same example data to show how to solve both
>>> in Excel and Calc), but the couple I reviewed only use one as an example.
>>>
>>> I did find one for Excel that has an over view which I thought was a
>>> decent balance of information on the three solver models available there at:
>>>
>>> https://www.tutorialspoint.com/excel_data_analysis/advanced_data_analysis_optimization_with_excel_solver.htm
>>>
>>> IDK if any of the helps, hope it does.
>>>
>>> Best wishes,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, May 14, 2020 at 7:19 PM Kohei Yoshida <kohei at libreoffice.org>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 10.05.2020 10:59, Stephen Fanning wrote:
>>>>
>>>> > What guidance can I insert into the Calc Guide to help the user if he
>>>> > wonders which algorithm to select?
>>>>
>>>> This is strictly my personal opinion.
>>>>
>>>> Which optimization solver to pick really depends on the characteristics
>>>> of the data being optimized, how (well) the algorithm is implemented in
>>>> the versions included in Calc, the accuracy goal etc. etc.  It's more
>>>> an
>>>> art than science, and each user really needs to experiment with various
>>>> solvers to see which one works best for his or her optimization cases.
>>>> My personal opinion is that it is probably beyond the scope of Calc
>>>> user
>>>> guide to provide any sort of guidance on how to select a solver.
>>>>
>>>> Feel free to disagree with me on this.  I'm not an expert. :-)
>>>>
>>>> Kohei
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> LibreOffice mailing list
>>>> LibreOffice at lists.freedesktop.org
>>>> https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/libreoffice
>>>>
>>>
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