For most of us, most of the time, Excel is nothing more than a very sophisticated list-maker that has big advantages over a word processor because it can perform mathematical tricks and its grid-like layout makes it easy to get words and numbers neatly aligned. Although we might plan a course of action based on the figures in an Excel worksheet, it's we who are making the decisions, not Excel.

All this changes if Excel's Solver Add-in is used. It has the ability to optimise a set of figures in order to achieve a specific goal (usually maximising profits or minimising the use of resources) by following a set of rules dictated by the human operator. In other words, it does all the tedious time-consuming work of trying out alternative solutions until it finds the best one.

In the Masterclass section of Computeractive issue 276 we explore the use of Solver in the 2003 edition of Excel. The three sample Excel spreadsheets posted here support the article, so download them to your computer and then refer to the magazine for further guidance.