Hierarchy
Prioritize mode — Rank objectives in strict priority order with tolerances.
Objectives are ranked in strict priority order. The optimizer focuses on the highest-priority objective first. Once it finds a solution within the tolerance you set, it moves on to the next objective — and so on.
How Tolerance Works
Each objective (except the last) has a tolerance from 0% to 100%.
A tolerance of 5% means: "accept solutions within 5% of the best found value, and use that flexibility to improve the next objective."
The last objective always has 0% tolerance — optimized as tightly as possible.
Default tolerance for new objectives is 10%.
Tolerance is relative: 5% means 5% of the best value found, not 5 percentage points.
How Ordering Works
Drag and drop objectives to reorder them. Position 1 = highest priority.
Moving an objective to the last position automatically sets its tolerance to 0%.
When to Use It
One objective is clearly more important than the others.
Objectives have different units or scales, making percentage weighting unintuitive.
You have a hard requirement on one objective and want to optimize others subject to it.
Example
Developing a peptide coupling reaction with three objectives:
Priority | Objective | Goal | Tolerance |
1st | Yield | Maximize | 5% |
2nd | Reaction time | Minimize | 10% |
3rd | Cost | Minimize | 0% |
The optimizer first finds conditions that maximize yield. Then, within 5% of that best yield, it reduces reaction time. Finally, within 10% of the best time found, it minimizes cost.
Good to Know
If all objectives are roughly equal in importance, Weighted Sum may be simpler.
If you are unsure about priorities, start with Pareto Front to explore trade-offs first.
Further reading: