Fitness Function Cell

The Fitness Function cell is the key to the operation of GeneHunter.  The cell must contain a formula which is used to decide how well GeneHunter is performing.  This formula is called the fitness function.

You may either type in the cell reference, e.g., $G$15, or use the mouse to highlight the cell on the spreadsheet prior to starting GeneHunter. Only one cell may be used for the fitness function.

GeneHunter gives you the option of having the program find a solution that will produce a maximum or minimum value in this cell or produce a value that is as close as possible to the value that you enter in the edit box on the GeneHunter screen.  In the Camping Trip example, the goal is to minimize the food budget.  If you were creating a sales application that considered variables such as the advertising, distributing, and research and development budgets, the goal might be to earn as much revenue as possible and you would want to maximize the fitness function.  In another application, the goal might be to raise a certain number of dollars while varying the number of hours worked by volunteers and the amount spent on advertising.  In this case, you would enter the dollar value in the edit box.

Tutorial Step 4