"Shane Devenshire" wrote in
message ...
Hi,

Probably the correct way to do this is to use the Solver feature

The file name is SOLVSAMP.XLS.

It is usually found in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office 12\Samples

It includes sample covering the following topic areas:

Product Mix
Shipping Routes
Staff Scheduling
Maximizing Income
Portfolio of Securities
Engineering Design (Electric circuits)

the one that is probably applicable to you is Staff Scheduling

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If this helps, please click the Yes button.

Shane

Thanks for that, I've installed the Solver add-in. However, can you please
suggest how I should actually use it to solve this problem? Presumably I
shall need a way of allocating tables and then a formula that counts how
many people are sitting at the same table as someone else they sat with last
time. And then the system needs to iterate until the total is zero (or
minimised).

V