calculate combinations

R

rdh

Hi all,

First post -- please excuse if I screw anything up.

There is a great post/answer related to my problem, here:

http://www.excelforum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=198386&goto=nextnewest

but I have a slighly different requirement.

I need to be able to return possible combinations from a set o
numbers

eg: I have 8 numbers, say 1-8
I want to return all possible combinations of unique sets of 3

I think for this example there are 56 combinations [8C3, or C(8,3)] e
123, 234, 345 etc etc

What I need is to be able to display all those combinations

Can anybody help?

Thanks,

Ro
 
B

Bernie Deitrick

Rob,

Copy the code from below, and paste into a codemodule.

Put a C into cell A1, 3 into cell A2, and 1 through 8 into cells A3:A10.
Select A1:A10 and then run
ListPermutations
which will list Combinations (I know that's not it's name, but that is how
Myrna Larson wrote it) on another sheet.

HTH,
Bernie
MS Excel MVP

Option Explicit

Dim vAllItems As Variant
Dim Buffer() As String
Dim BufferPtr As Long
Dim Results As Worksheet

Sub ListPermutations()
Dim Rng As Range
Dim PopSize As Integer
Dim SetSize As Integer
Dim Which As String
Dim N As Double
Const BufferSize As Long = 4096

Set Rng = Selection.Columns(1).Cells
If Rng.Cells.Count = 1 Then
Set Rng = Range(Rng, Rng.End(xlDown))
End If

PopSize = Rng.Cells.Count - 2
If PopSize < 2 Then GoTo DataError

SetSize = Rng.Cells(2).Value
If SetSize > PopSize Then GoTo DataError

Which = UCase$(Rng.Cells(1).Value)
Select Case Which
Case "C"
N = Application.WorksheetFunction.Combin(PopSize, SetSize)
Case "P"
N = Application.WorksheetFunction.Permut(PopSize, SetSize)
Case Else
GoTo DataError
End Select
If N > Cells.Count Then GoTo DataError

Application.ScreenUpdating = False

Set Results = Worksheets.Add

vAllItems = Rng.Offset(2, 0).Resize(PopSize).Value
ReDim Buffer(1 To BufferSize) As String
BufferPtr = 0

If Which = "C" Then
AddCombination PopSize, SetSize
Else
AddPermutation PopSize, SetSize
End If
vAllItems = 0

Application.ScreenUpdating = True
Exit Sub

DataError:
If N = 0 Then
Which = "Enter your data in a vertical" & _
" range of at least 4 cells. " _
& String$(2, 10) _
& "Top cell must contain the letter C or P" & _
", 2nd cell is the number" _
& "of items in a subset, the cells" & _
" below are the values from which" _
& "the subset is to be chosen."

Else
Which = "This requires " & Format$(N, "#,##0") & _
" cells, more than are available on the worksheet!"
End If
MsgBox Which, vbOKOnly, "DATA ERROR"
Exit Sub
End Sub

Private Sub AddPermutation(Optional PopSize As Integer = 0, _
Optional SetSize As Integer = 0, _
Optional NextMember As Integer = 0)

Static iPopSize As Integer
Static iSetSize As Integer
Static SetMembers() As Integer
Static Used() As Integer
Dim i As Integer

If PopSize <> 0 Then
iPopSize = PopSize
iSetSize = SetSize
ReDim SetMembers(1 To iSetSize) As Integer
ReDim Used(1 To iPopSize) As Integer
NextMember = 1
End If

For i = 1 To iPopSize
If Used(i) = 0 Then
SetMembers(NextMember) = i
If NextMember <> iSetSize Then
Used(i) = True
AddPermutation , , NextMember + 1
Used(i) = False
Else
SavePermutation SetMembers()
End If
End If
Next i

If NextMember = 1 Then
SavePermutation SetMembers(), True
Erase SetMembers
Erase Used
End If

End Sub 'AddPermutation

Private Sub AddCombination(Optional PopSize As Integer = 0, _
Optional SetSize As Integer = 0, _
Optional NextMember As Integer = 0, _
Optional NextItem As Integer = 0)

Static iPopSize As Integer
Static iSetSize As Integer
Static SetMembers() As Integer
Dim i As Integer

If PopSize <> 0 Then
iPopSize = PopSize
iSetSize = SetSize
ReDim SetMembers(1 To iSetSize) As Integer
NextMember = 1
NextItem = 1
End If

For i = NextItem To iPopSize
SetMembers(NextMember) = i
If NextMember <> iSetSize Then
AddCombination , , NextMember + 1, i + 1
Else
SavePermutation SetMembers()
End If
Next i

If NextMember = 1 Then
SavePermutation SetMembers(), True
Erase SetMembers
End If

End Sub 'AddCombination

Private Sub SavePermutation(ItemsChosen() As Integer, _
Optional FlushBuffer As Boolean = False)

Dim i As Integer, sValue As String
Static RowNum As Long, ColNum As Long

If RowNum = 0 Then RowNum = 1
If ColNum = 0 Then ColNum = 1

If FlushBuffer = True Or BufferPtr = UBound(Buffer()) Then
If BufferPtr > 0 Then
If (RowNum + BufferPtr - 1) > Rows.Count Then
RowNum = 1
ColNum = ColNum + 1
If ColNum > 256 Then Exit Sub
End If

Results.Cells(RowNum, ColNum).Resize(BufferPtr, 1).Value _
= Application.WorksheetFunction.Transpose(Buffer())
RowNum = RowNum + BufferPtr
End If

BufferPtr = 0
If FlushBuffer = True Then
Erase Buffer
RowNum = 0
ColNum = 0
Exit Sub
Else
ReDim Buffer(1 To UBound(Buffer))
End If

End If

'construct the next set
For i = 1 To UBound(ItemsChosen)
sValue = sValue & ", " & vAllItems(ItemsChosen(i), 1)
Next i

'and save it in the buffer
BufferPtr = BufferPtr + 1
Buffer(BufferPtr) = Mid$(sValue, 3)
End Sub 'SavePermutation





rdh > said:
Hi all,

First post -- please excuse if I screw anything up.

There is a great post/answer related to my problem, here:

http://www.excelforum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=198386&goto=nextnewest

but I have a slighly different requirement.

I need to be able to return possible combinations from a set of
numbers

eg: I have 8 numbers, say 1-8
I want to return all possible combinations of unique sets of 3

I think for this example there are 56 combinations [8C3, or C(8,3)] eg
123, 234, 345 etc etc

What I need is to be able to display all those combinations

Can anybody help?

Thanks,

Rob
 
R

rdh

Hi Bernie,

Man... I can't believe I got an answer to a question like that s
quickly -- thanks, I really appreciate it.

It works like a charm.

Best,

Ro
 
W

Wouter

rdh said:
Hi all,

First post -- please excuse if I screw anything up.

There is a great post/answer related to my problem, here:

http://www.excelforum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=198386&goto=nextnewest

but I have a slighly different requirement.

I need to be able to return possible combinations from a set of
numbers

eg: I have 8 numbers, say 1-8
I want to return all possible combinations of unique sets of 3

I think for this example there are 56 combinations [8C3, or C(8,3)] eg
123, 234, 345 etc etc

What I need is to be able to display all those combinations

Can anybody help?

Thanks,

Rob

Hello Rob,

With thes macros there will be een vertical list created.

You have to make a dialog which calls the first with 3 parameters:

EG: ListCominations(8, 3, "A1")

' **************** start solution

Option Explicit

Dim intNumbers() As Integer
Dim intMaxDepth As Integer

Public Sub ListCominations(numberFrom As Integer, _
numberOut As Integer, _
StartCell As String)
Dim dblCombi As Double
'
If numberFrom <= numberOut Then
MsgBox "It is not possible to " & vbNewLine & _
"take a combination of" & vbNewLine & _
CStr(numberOut) & " out of " & CStr(numberFrom) & " figures", _
vbCritical + vbOKOnly, "Try again"
Else
dblCombi = WorksheetFunction.Combin(numberFrom, numberOut)

If Range(StartCell).Row + dblCombi - 1 > ActiveSheet.Rows.Count Then
MsgBox "List of combinations does not fit on sheet", _
vbInformation + vbOKOnly, "Try again"
Else
ReDim intNumbers(numberOut) As Integer
intMaxDepth = numberOut

Range(StartCell).Select

Call LoopCombinations(1, numberFrom - numberOut + 1, 1)
End If
End If
End Sub


Public Sub LoopCombinations(numberStart As Integer, _
numberEnd As Integer, _
intDepth As Integer)
Dim intLoop As Integer
'
If intDepth > intMaxDepth Then
For intLoop = 0 To intMaxDepth - 1
ActiveCell.Offset(0, intLoop).Value = intNumbers(intLoop + 1)
Next
ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
Else
For intLoop = numberStart To numberEnd
intNumbers(intDepth) = intLoop
Call LoopCombinations(intLoop + 1, numberEnd + 1, intDepth + 1)
Next
End If
End Sub

' ******************* end solution

Success Wouter
 

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