Pick rectangle from list that is larger than other rectangle and minimize area.

Hi you can make use of Large(array,2) function to find the second largest value from the array.

This has echos of the 2D cutting stock problem, so my first question is whether or not this is a cutting stock problem or if it will expand into a cutting stock problem, or if it really will be simpler than cutting stock. Because the full cutting stock problem is NP-hard, it can be a challenge to program the algorithm into Excel (or any programming language).

This very old forum post over at MrExcel suggests a couple of preprogrammed, non-Excel solutions. https://www.mrexcel.com/board/thread...6/#post-327860 The links may be dead, but, as common as the cutting stock problem is, even today it might be easier to find someone else's implementation rather than program your own.

If it really is as simple as choosing which blank to cut one, single piece from, I would probably set up a series of columns with the dimensions for all of my blanks, put the dimensions of my one piece at the top of adjacent column(s), then build a formula that will test each piece and calculate the area wasted for each blank. Then simply scan the results for the smallest wasted area.

At this point I don't offer any specifics, because I want to make sure we understand the full extent of your request.

Why don't you go for excel solver, THAT COULD ALSO HELP YOU HERE

I believe what you're asking is if I will need multiple parts to be nested into a single piece of material which I am trying to avoid having to think about :P

You and I might want to avoid thinking about it, but someone, somewhere, someday will ask about it ("Hey, can't we further reduce waste by cutting one or more of the smaller pieces from the current waste sections?") and then, thinking that this will be just like asking about a single piece from a piece of stock, will ask you how to further reduce waste. As a programmer, I think I would want a fairly clear sense of the scope. If I solve the "one piece from one blank" problem, and next week they are going to ask me to expand that, then I would rather start with the full scope in front of me.

You are right that I could create an entire column that calculate the waste for each blank size but when you're working with a couple thousand different parts that solution breaks down pretty quickly (at least in my head).

Yes, part of the challenge with these kinds of problems (especially problems like the NP-hard cutting stock problem) is how quickly they expand. It starts with the seemingly simple "how much waste is generated when I cut one piece from one blank" to how much waste is generated when I cut multiple pieces from multiple blanks". In some ways, the larger problem might just be a recursive implementation of the smaller problem. Maybe once you can solve the "how much waste is generated by cutting one piece from one blank" problem, then you can apply it recursively to different blanks and/or parts (in a spreadsheet this usually means making multiple copies of the row/column/block of cells that performs the calculation), then study the results of the recursion.

As Sunny18pc notes, many people try to approach these kinds of problems using Excel's Solver. Basically you solve the "how much waste" problem, then have Solver minimize that waste. Here's one example (I think this is 1D cutting stock): http://blog.excelmasterseries.com/20...aste-with.html
Here is Solver's developers' 1D cutting stock example: https://www.solver.com/cutting-stock

Still not much specific, but again, I am trying to see just how big this is going to get before making specific recommendations.