Gale Shapley matching (Stable Marriage problem)

Fascinating little problem! Thanks for posting it, I've enjoyed spending the last couple of hours working through this logic!

See attachment for a worked example. I used the example dataset from Rosetta Code, stored in a couple of listobject tables.

The code reads in the arrays of Men and Women with their preferences, then loops through, according to the algorithm:

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

Please Login or Register  to view this content.

You could easily tweak the input source(s). The output is stored in the respective arrays, with a text log written to the log sheet. You could do whatever you like with the output.

Here's my code:

Please Login or Register  to view this content.

I enjoyed that!

I'll have a think about adding additional criteria, and how that might work.

Originally Posted by tshobe

2. Which language-source code did you use here from Rosetta Code? If you already stated that; then sorry, I didn't catch that part.

I didn't use any code from Rosetta. I got the Gale Shapley algorithm from Wikipedia (quoted in my first post), and wrote the VA code based on that.
I used the sample data on the Rosetta Code page:

Originally Posted by Rosetta Code - Stable Marriage

Please Login or Register  to view this content.

I've now uploaded a (non-Excel specific) version of my VBA code to the Rosetta Code page.

I think this code might suffice (based on Olly's file)

Please Login or Register  to view this content.

An Excel independent variant:

Please Login or Register  to view this content.

Ouch @snb. I always loved your code!!!

now more dictionary oriented (this is exemplary why/when you should use dictionaries)

Please Login or Register  to view this content.

@tshobe

You are not introducing additional criteria to this, you are only specifying the original data (i.e the preferences in both sets).

@snb

Thank you very much for assisting and providing your code.

In regards to terminology being used; Olly and I were phrasing it that way referring to non-coding terminology before getting into programming / coding / data analytics jargon.

Couple of questions, if you don't mind helping me with this, SNB;

1) What is an "Excel independent variant"? and what is its use here?

2) The more "dictionary-oriented" version is just supposed to be a non-coding (non-VBA?) friendlier version, right? Just easier to read? I do not have access to excel at the moment now.

BTW, I am new to this and know very little about VBA, much less any coding in general.

Thank you.

VBA consists of several libraries.
There's a special VBA library that contains methods etc. that can only be applied to Excel.
If you only use VBA code that doesn't need any 'Excel-VBA' it is Excel independent.

The Dictionary is also part of a VBA library.
So the 'Dictionary oriented' variant is VBA.

See also:

https://rosettacode.org/wiki/Stable_...ge_problem#VBA

rprasadusa welcome to the forum

Administrative Note:

Welcome to the forum.

We are happy to help, however whilst you feel your request is similar to this thread, experience has shown that things soon get confusing when answers refer to particular cells/ranges/sheets which are unique to your post and not relevant to the original. Please start a new thread - See Forum rule #4

If you are not familiar with how to start a new thread see the FAQ: How to start a new thread

Originally Posted by KButler9

Can you modify the code to handle cases where a 1:1 match is not possible? Specifically, when the the group sizes are different. For example, if there are only 8 men vs. 10 women?

You might not need to, just tailor inputs. Depending on your scenario. But yes, something similar but modified is used to match doctors with residencies.

If you're considering hanging two women out to dry you can just incorporate two low ranked men and the women who match with them get passed on. Otherwise, if you're considering polygamy, there are a few paths forward: one of which is to input the 2 highest ranked men again as the lowest ranked men.

Administrative Note:

Welcome to the forum.

Sorry, but your post does not comply with Rule #6 of our Forum RULES.: please do not ignore requests by Administrators, Moderators and senior forum members regarding forum rules.

If you are unclear about the request or instruction, then send a private message to them asking for clarification.

All Participants:

Please do not post a reply in a thread where a Moderator or Administrator has requested an action that has not yet been complied with (e.g. title change, code tags requested, etc.). Thanks.

...and as an aside reflecting on the WaterCooler thread on the Views:Replies ratio this one is currently 4574:17 (actually one more now that I've submitted this presumably).

Is it the Stable Marriage thread title that's resulted in this