Analysing data to produce all possible combinations

[Andy Sandford]

Hi

I have a list of players in a tournament - this can be variable (from two up
to a maximum of sixteen).

Each of the players has to meet each of the other players twice - once at
home, once away.

The results need to be displayed with the home player in the left column and
the away player in the right column - part of my problem is organising the
results so that they adhere to the following criteria...

1/ minimum number of matches involving any one player are adjacent
2/ matches are distributed evenly (as far as possible) between home and away
fixtures for each player down the list - the ideal would be alternate
home/away games.

I guess the "ideal" table for four players would look something like this...

1st Leg - Home Away 2nd Leg- Home Away
a b b
a
c d d
c
a c c
a
b d d
b
d a a
d
b c c
b

...It's driving me nuts!

Thanks in advance!

Andy

 

[BrianB]

Here's my starter. Say 4 players.
Put 4 names in cells B1 to E1.
Put 4 names in cells A2:A5.
Copy formula =$A2 &"/" &B$1 into range B2:E5

This gives all combinations of names (including unwanted ones in cell
B2,C3, etc). Say the first name is the home match. You now have to fin
a away of sorting the name combinations into some kind of order

 

[Andy Sandford]

Thanks Brian - that was a nice, simple solution!

Now for sorting the data... 8o))

Andy