PythonWA Meetup April - Optimisation with Python

Welcome to our April Python WA meetup!
We welcome Python enthusiasts of all skill levels. We'll be starting off with food and beverages at 5:30 pm, with talks beginning at 6pm.

Easter Special: Solving Constrained Optimisation Problems with Python
David Smith

With Easter fast approaching, the Easter Bunny has a big challenge—how to plan the ultimate egg hunt while balancing fairness, fun, and logistics. As a Python user, you can help by iteratively refining various constraints to solve this optimisation problem. In doing so, you'll learn valuable skills and ensure the Easter Bunny has the perfect strategy!

David is a passionate technology and innovation professional with a background in architecture, software, startups and innovation, and now working as a senior data and AI consultant at Insight. His goal is to empower others to solve problems and create meaningful impact in society.

Optimising Your McDonald's Order: An Introduction to Linear and Mixed Integer Programming with Pyomo
Kai Streiga

Ever wondered if you could hack your McDonald's order to be as low-calorie as possible while still meeting all your essential dietary needs?
In this talk, we’ll dive into Linear Programming (LP) and Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) using Pyomo, a powerful Python library for optimisation.
We’ll start with the basics—what LP and MIP are, why they’re useful, and how they help solve real-world problems. We’ll then put theory into practice by setting up an optimisation problem: finding the lowest-calorie McDonald’s meal that still meets all your nutritional requirements. Using Pyomo, we’ll model the problem, define constraints, and let an optimisation solver do the heavy lifting.
By the end of the session, you’ll have a solid understanding of how LP/MIP works, see how to apply it in Python, and walk away with a fun (and possibly surprising) take on fast-food decision-making!

Kai is a motivated, conscientious senior software developer and FOSS advocate with an educational background in mathematics. Whilst being very appreciate the beauty of Mathematics Kai prides himself on his ability to focus on pragmatic outcomes, prioritising his work effectively. This combined with his strong technical grounding have seen him succeed in his roles as a software developer and data engineer at BHP, and now as a senior software engineer at Cartesian Software.
In addition to his professional work, Kai is active in the Free and Open Source community as a long-term maintainer of SciPy.

A big thanks to our
Food sponsor: Horizon Digital
Beverage sponsor: Gage Roads
Venue sponsor: Spacecubed
Hosting sponsor:Ben Fitzhardinge