title: Let Excel Solver Operate with Natural Numbers
body: <p>My workbook is a bit complicated, but the basic problem can be illustrated with a short example.</p>
  
  <p>Let's assume that I have 5 cells in Excel: A, B, C, D, and E.</p>
  
  <pre><code>A = 0
  B = 5 * A 
  C = 0 
  D = 10 * C
  E = B + D
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>In the Excel Solver Function I select cell E as the objective that is to be maximised, and cells A and C as the variable cells. Furthermore, I add the constraint that cell E must not exceed 10, and the second constraint that cells A and C must be integers.</p>
  
  <p>The ideal solution would be that the value in cell A should be 0, and the value in cell C should be 10. In the more complicated version of this problem, however, Excel cannot find the optional solution. </p>
  
  <p>The way the current formulas look like I expect that Excel could find the right solution, if excel only used natural numbers to find the optimal solution. For example, Excel currently would look at the outcome for A = 0.01 and C = 9.99. Instead, Excel should strictly compare outcomes for variable choices such as A = 1 and C = 9. </p>
  
  <p>How can I make the Excel solver function operate with natural numbers only? </p>