Topic 2: Linear Programming Models (Graphical methods)

1. Linear equations
𝑦 = 𝑚𝑥 + 𝐶

How to graph a linear equation?

 X-intercept (y=0)
 Y-intercept (x=0)

Example:
i. 𝑦 = 3𝑥 + 5 ii. 3𝑥 + 2𝑦 = 200

iii. 𝑦=𝑎 iv. 𝑥=𝑏

2. Graphing linear inequalities

a. Draw the graph of the equation obtained for the given inequality by replacing the inequality sign
with an equal sign.
b. Use a dash line ------ for < or >
c. Use a solid line for ≤, ≥, 𝑜𝑟 =

Example: Graph
a. 𝑥 > 5 b. 𝑥 ≤ 6

(“>” right-hand side; “<” left-hand side)

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 𝑐. 𝑦 ≤ 2 d. 𝑦 > 3

(“>” above the line; “<” below the line)

𝑒. 𝑦 + 3𝑥 ≥ 5 f. 2𝑥 + 4𝑦 < 2

Note: Important terms

a. Less than “<”
b. At least “≥”
c. At most “≤”
d. Not more than “≤”
e. Not less than “≥”

3. Solving a linear programming problem

Formulating
Step 1: Completely understand the managerial problem being faced.
Step 2: Identify the objective and constraints.
Step 3: Define the decision variables (X and Y)
Step 4: Use the decision variables to write mathematical expressions for the objective and
constraint.
Solving
Step 5: Graph all constraints and find the feasible region.
Step 6: Find the coordinates of all corner points (vertices) of the feasible set. (Simultaneous
equations)
Step 7: Evaluate the objective function at each corner point and find the maximum/minimum
point.

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Example 1: Maximization
The Flair Furniture Company produces inexpensive tables and chairs. The production process for each is
similar in that both require a certain number of hours of carpentry work and a certain number of labour
hours in the painting department. Each table takes 4 hours of carpentry and 2 hours in the painting
department. Each chair requires 3 hours in carpentry and 1 hour in the painting department. During the
current production period, 240 hours of carpentry are available and 100 hours in painting time are available.
Each table sold yields a profit of $70; each chair produced is sold for a $50 profit.
Flair Furniture’s problem is to determine the best possible combination of tables and chairs to
manufacture in order to reach maximum profit.

Solution:

Tables Chairs Available hours

Carpentry 4 hours 3 hours 240
Painting 2 hours 1 hour 100
Profit per unit $70 $50

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Example 2: Minimization
The Holiday Meal Turkey Ranch is considering buying two different brands of turkey feed and blending
them to provide a good, low-cost diet for its turkeys. Each feed contains, in varying proportions, some or all
of the three nutritional ingredients essential for fattening turkeys. Each pound of brand 1 purchased, contains
5 ounces of ingredient A, 4 ounces of ingredient B, and 0.5 ounces of ingredient C. Each pound of brand 2
contains 10 ounces of ingredient A, 3 ounces ingredient B, but no ingredient C. The brand 1 feed cots the
rand 2 cents a pound, while the brand 2 feed cots 3 cent a pound. Each low-cost diet should consist at least
90 ounces of ingredient A, at least 48 ounces of ingredient B, and at least 1.5 ounces of ingredient C. The
owner of the ranch would like to use LP to determine the lowest-cost diet meal that meets the minimum
monthly requirement.

Solution:
Brand 1 (ounces) Brand 2 (ounces) Minimum
requirement (ounces)
Ingredient A 5 10 90
Ingredient B 4 3 48
Ingredient C 0.5 0 1.5
Cost (cents) 2 3

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4. Slack and surplus

Slack  The difference between the left-hand side and the right-hand side of a “≤” constraint.
 Amount of a resource that is not being used.
Surplus  The difference between the left-hand side and the right-hand side of a “≥” constraint.
 Amount by which a minimum quantity is exceeded.

Example 3
a. Refer to Example 1, how much slack is there for each of the 2 constraints?
b. Refer to Example 2, how much surplus is there for each of the 3 constraints?

Class Exercise 3
1. Soundex produces two models of clock radios. Model A requires 15 min of work on assembly line I and
10 min of work on assembly line II. Model B requires 10 min of work on assembly line I and 12 min of
work on assembly line II. At most, 25 labour-hours of assembly time on line I and 22 labour-hours of
assembly time on line II are available each day. It is anticipated that Soundex will realise a profit of $12
on model A and $10 on model B.

a. How many clock radios of each model should be produced each day in order to maximise Soundex’s
profit?
b. How much slack is there for each of the 2 constraints?

2. A nutritionist advises an individual who is suffering from iron and vitamin-B deficiency to take at least
2400mg of iron, 2100 mg of vitamin B1 and 1500mg of vitamin B2 over a period of time. Two vitamin
pills are suitable, brand A and brand B. Each brand A pill cost 6 cents and contains 40mg of iron, 10mg
of vitamin B1 and 5 mg of vitamin B2. Each brand B pill cost 8 cents and contains 10mg of iron and 15
mg each of vitamin B1 and B2.

a. What combination of pills should the individual purchase in order to meet the minimum iron and
vitamin requirements at the lowest cost?
b. How much surplus is there for each of the 3 constraints?

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5. Special cases in LP

a Infeasibility Lack of a feasible solution region can occur if constraints conflict with one
another
b Unbounded solution When the objective function in a maximisation problem can be indefinitely
large, the problem is unbounded and is missing one or more constraints.
c Redundancy A redundant constraint is one that does not affect the feasible solution
region.
d More than one optimal Two or more optimal solutions may exist, and this allows great
solution management flexibility in deciding which combination to select.

a. Infeasibility- A problem with no feasible solution

Region Satisfying
3rd constraint

x
Region satisfying
first 2 constraints

b. Unbounded solution- A solution region that is unbounded to the right

Feasible region

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c. Redundant- A problem with a redundant constraint
y

2𝑥 + 𝑦 ≤ 30 Redundant
Constraint
𝑥≤5
Feasible 𝑥 + 𝑦 ≤ 20
Region
x

6. QM (Assignment)
Important term
Dual Price The improvement in the objective function value that results from a one-unit increase
Shadow Price in the right-hand side of that constraint

Example 4
Maximize Z=50X1+20X2
Subject to 2X1+ 4X2≤400
100X1+50X2≤8,000
X1 ≤ 60
X1,X2≥ 0
Output
Optimal Solution

X1 X2 RHS Dual
Maximize 50 20
Constraint1 2 4 <= 400 0
Constraint2 100 50 <= 8,000 0.4
Constraint3 1 0 <= 60 10
Solution 60 40 3,800

Variable Value Reduced Cost Original Lower bound Upper

Value bound
X1 60 0 50 40 Infinity
X2 40 0 20 0 25
Constraint Dual Value Slack/Surplus Original Lower bound Upper
value bound
Constraint1 0 120 400 280 Infinity
Constraint2 0.4 0 8,000 6,000 9,500
Constraint3 10 0 60 40 80

The current solution remains optimal unless

an objective function coefficient is increased
to a value above the upper bound or Dual price is relevant only within limits.
decreased to a value below the lower bound.

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Example 5:
Personal Mini Warehouses is planning to expand its successful Orlando business into Tampa. In doing so,
the company must determine how many storage rooms of each size to build. If X1 = number of large spaces
developed, X2 = number of small spaces developed, and the objective and constraints are as follows:

Maximise monthly earnings=50X1+20X2

Subject to:
2X1+ 4X2≤ 400 (advertising budget available)
100X1+50X2≤ 8,000 (square footage required)
X1≤ 60 (rental limit expected)
X1, X2≥ 0

The solution obtained with QM for Windows is given in the following program:
X1 X2 RHS Dual
Maximize 50 20
Constraint 1 2 4 <= 400 0
Constraint 2 100 50 <= 8,000 0.4
Constraint 3 1 0 <= 60 10
Solution 60 40 3800
Variable Value Reduced Cost Original Val Lower Bound Upper Bound
X1 60 0 50 40 Infinity
X2 40 0 20 0 25
Constraint Dual Slack/Surplus Original Val Lower Bound Upper Bound
Value
Constraint 1 0 120 400 280 Infinity
Constraint 2 0.4 0 8,000 9,500
6,000
Constraint 3 10 0 60 40 80

Use this to answer the following questions.

a) For the optimal solution, how much of the advertising budget is spent?
b) For the optimal solution, how much square footage will be used?
c) What would the optimal solution be if the profit on the large spaces were reduced from $50 to $45?
d) How much would earnings increase if the square footage requirement were increased from $8,000 to
$9,000?

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Class Exercise 4
A furniture manufacturer produces chairs and tables from the same raw materials - small blocks and large
blocks. The resource requirements for each product and the total resources available are as follows:

Resources/unit Small blocks Large blocks

Chair 2 1
Table 2 2
AVAILABLE (per day) 8 6
Each chair produced results in a profit of $10, and each table earns $17 in profit. Below is the computer
output for this problem.

Tables Chairs RHS Dual

Maximize 17 10
Small 2 2 <= 8 1.5
Large 2 1 <= 6 7
Solution-> 2 2 54

Reduced Lower
Variable Value Cost Original Val Bound Upper Bound
Tables 2 0 17 10 20
Chairs 2 0 10 8.5 17
Lower
Constraint Dual Value Slack/Surplus Original Val Bound Upper Bound
Small 1.5 0 8 6 12
Large 7 0 6 4 8

i. Determine the number of chairs and tables to produce each week in order to maximize profit.
ii. For the optimal solution, how many small blocks will be used?
iii. For the optimal solution, how many large blocks will be used?
iv. What would the optimal solution be if the profit on the Table were reduced from $17 to $12?
v. How much would profit increase if the number of small blocks available increased from 8 blocks to
10 blocks?