[FRIAM] Optimization problem

[Pieter Steenekamp]

Two possible approaches are:
a) Solve the problem yourself. Use one or a combination of standard
algorithms ( eg you mentioned linear programming and greedy algorithms,
there are many more of course) and/or your own custom algorithm. If you
wish to go this route and want to learn about the subject, I recommend the
series of MOOCS by Stanford's Tim Roughgarden
https://www.coursera.org/specializations/algorithms
Or, I think yours is probably a knapsack -type problem and the MOOC
https://www.coursera.org/learn/discrete-optimization covers that relatively
well.
b) But if you just want to get the solution you can use optimization
software like
https://www.ibm.com/za-en/products/ilog-cplex-optimization-studio (they
have a free edition that will be good enough for your application) will
solve it for you without you necessarily knowing how the software does it.

On Fri, 20 Sep 2019 at 21:00, Gary Schiltz <gary at naturesvisualarts.com>
wrote:

> I'd like advice on possible ways to solve the following problem
> (plumbers must surely face this all the time). I need to cut a set of
> metal tubes of varying lengths from standard length (6 meter)
> galvanized conduit stock. The goal is to find the number of tubes I
> need to buy, and the order of cuts to produce the minimum amount of
> leftover, unused tube.  I'm interested in what types of solutions
> people use for similar 1-dimensional problems, e.g. linear
> programming, greedy algorithms, etc. (I've been Googling). I'm only
> looking to cut around 15-25 pieces, so my gut feeling is that an
> exhaustive search of all possible solutions, though probably NP-hard,
> would be feasible to perform. Working programs, as well as libraries
> in any language would be a bonus.
>
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