Initializing help system before first use

Introducing the Example Business Problem

All models start off with a problem to be solved—in this case, we are going to be working with and extending a portfolio optimization problem introduced in Getting Started with Xpress, part of the Xpress documentation set.

Stating the problem:

An investor wishes to invest a certain amount of money. Ten different share types and their countries of origin are being evaluated for the investment. The percentage return on investment (ROI) for each share type over a period of one year has been estimated. The following table contains the details of each share type, its country of origin, its risk category (R: high risk, N: low risk) and the expected ROI.
Number Description Country of Origin Risk ROI (percentage)
1 Treasury Canada N 5
2 Hardware NA (North America) R 17
3 Theater NA R 26
4 Telecom NA R 12
5 Brewery UK N 8
6 Highways France N 9
7 Cars Germany N 7
8 Bank Luxemburg N 6
9 Software India R 31
10 Electronics Japan R 21
The investor specifies certain constraints. To spread the risk, no more than 30% of the capital will be invested into any individual share type, with at least half of the capital in North American shares, and at most one third in high-risk shares.

How should the capital be divided among the share types to obtain the highest expected ROI? The tutorial will demonstrate how to use a Python program model the business problem by interfacing with the Xpress Solver, but any solver can be used. Later sections in this chapter, and later chapters, will create a custom user interface.

Parent Topic Building a Basic Xpress Insight App

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