Challenge #213: Optimized Flower Arrangements

A solution to last week’s challenge can be found here. Source: https://www.gardenista.com/posts/flower-arranging-101-a-crash-course-for-the-uninitiated/

A florist is making 10 flower arrangements for a party. He'd like to maximize the total number of flowers in each arrangement.

The florist has picked out the seven different kinds of flowers he'd like to include in each arrangement. Each arrangement needs to have between 4 - 8 of each flower, and between 3 - 4 filler greens.

His budget is $950. How many of each flower should the florist order?

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challenge_213_solution.yxmd

Intermediate

Predictive

Accepted answers

All comments

RolandSchubert

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Interesting challenge ...

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johnemery

I've never used that tool before. Good practice with an unfamiliar tool. Reminds me of my Excel Solver days.

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Watch my solution video here:

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Challenge 213 solution jemery.yxmd

Aaron_Harter

The Tool Mastery article is a great resource for learning about the Optimization tool - https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Knowledge-Base/Tool-Mastery-Optimization/ta-p/306117

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challenge_213_solution_AB Data Consulting_Aaron.yxmd

dsmdavid

One of these days the optimization tool will just "make sense". Still not quite there...

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JeremyGonzva

This tool remains a complete mistery for me.

Without the help and tool mastery pages, it would have been impossible to use

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Jean-Balteryx

Here is my solution !

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patrick_digan

I would echo @dsmdavid 's sentiment

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challenge_213_start_file.yxmd

Never used this one before 🙂

Very helpful to walk through the Sample Workflows > Predictive Tool Samples > Prescriptive Analytics > Optimization Input Modes and also reference the Tool Mastery article.

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abrouwer

See my solution attached.

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challenge_213_solution_file - AJB.yxmd

balajilolla

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Spoiler Solution

Very Interesting Challenge! Learnt a new tool

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dkoenawan004

Now this is a challenge. Had to pull my notes from Inspire APAC and finally figure it out!

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TonyA

Really simple once I remembered how to use the optimization tool. It seems that every time I run into it I have to learn how to use it all over again.

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I played with this a bit, trying different linear programming models. The given solution used GLPK. I also tried Symphony and got a different result with 57 White Daisies and 40 Red Roses and all other values the same. This is arguably slightly better since it gives the same number of flowers at a slightly lower cost (949.05 vs 949.90).

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Kenda

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The last time I used this tool was for the previous Weekly Challenge that required it

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JohanRanschaert

Solution in attach

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JennyMartin

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I forgot you could have lower and upper bounds in the objective function input! I also got slightly different values, as I solved for each arrangement. I ❤️ the optimization tool!

For the video solution I've removed a bit of the complexity by using the lower and upper bounds! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr-ZS_NdQ2k&list=PL18SpOXDj-KMUD4YwWC5vZaUsIa7drxNZ&index=18&t=0s

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ggruccio

Sweet Success!!!

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I had to step away - mow the lawn - sleep on it:

Had the right idea, but so important to make sure data stays in the correct relative order...which the transpose was not doing for me initially. Fixed that and realized I had spelled "coefficient" incorrectly as well in the O input.

Not the easiest tool to master, but kept re-reading the Tool mastery page until something clicked.

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AkimasaKajitani

My Solution.

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challenge_213_start_file_kajitani.yxmd

kelvin_law1

Here is my solution:

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challenge_213_solution.yxmd

philipmannering

I would love to see the solution with constraints in rows. @Ollie and I couldn't get it to work that way for neither love nor money.

Here's the solution with variables in rows at any rate,

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woof

Challenge 213 - Optimized Flower Arrangement.yxmd

Ladarthure

my solution

challenge_213_start_file.yxmd

OllieClarke

Struggled with this one (more info in Spoiler).

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I spent a while trying to get 'Constraints in Rows' to work, but it kept on totalling to more than 950.

*I did try sorting the data by price ascending, which got the answer closer to 950, but was still over 🤔

Challenge 213.PNG

I asked my go to optimisation guy @PhilipMannering to help, but he couldn't solve my issue. I've kept the original way I had the tool set up so if anyone with more nous than I can have a look and tell me what I was doing wrong I'd be a very happy Ollie 🙂

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RWvanLeeuwen

Input some objective to maximise; input some cost matrix; input some constraints; receive an error; debug using sample workflows; ...; success!

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challenge_213_start_file - RWvL.yxmd

Hannah_Lissaman

This was fun - dredging up knowledge on a tool I have not used in a while!

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ScottyLeung

I have compute 2 set of results.

1st consider the green filler is one kind of flowers

2nd the green filler is not classified as flowers, so I simply minimise the number of the and apply the budget to max the number of flowers.

challenge_213_Scotty.yxmd

huynv96

Interesting challenge! Thanks

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bmarx112

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OllieClarke

I think I've worked out the issue I was having. The cross-tab puts the headers in alphabetical order, which the flowers aren't, so they didn't line up properly in the Optimisation tool. Sorting alphabetically by flower name fixed my issue 🙂 (cc: @PhilipMannering)

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jv1

Seems to be impossible for me to remember how to use optimization tool since it always feels like I have never seen it before when I need it.. Maybe the next time will be easier (most likely not)

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AMansour

Hello

Here's my solution

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Capture d’écran 2020-04-30 à 13.54.26.png

@johnemery thank you for the video that helped me a lot to understand these tool beside the tool mastery.

challenge_213_AMansour.yxmd

freewind

out of curiosity, will it be simpler to combine O and A anchors? variables can be combined into O anchor since order matters anyway, and constraints to be merged to B anchor?

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TerryT

I created a non Optimization Tool solution to give some logical reasoning behind the Optimization Tool output!

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challenge_213_TTT.yxmd

bsanders2009

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This one was really hard for me! I also have an observation and a question:

Observation: It's interesting to note that using Symphony to solve will swap "Red Rose" and "White Daisy", resulting in the same flower count but cheaper (is Symphony the "cheapskate" solver?!) by enough to buy an additional flower but it doesn't do it--strange!
Question: It looks like my solution is similar to others but I'm questioning the approach now. If we need between 3-4 Filler Greens per arrangement and we're trying to maximize flowers, wouldn't the optimal solution take this into account and treat Flower Greens differently from flowers and ensure that you order 30 (the minimum) of them to free up money to buy additional flowers?

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KevinHarrison

Thanks for the video, that was very helpful for me to understand the tool. I think I will be able to use this in the future now.

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