Duality

Flair Furniture Company

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 labor hours in the painting and varnishing department.
Each table takes 4 hours of carpentry and 2 hours of painting and varnishing shop.
Each chair requires 3 hours of carpentry and 1 hour of painting and varnishing.
During the current production period, 240 hours of carpentry time available and 100
hours of painting and varnishing time available. Each table sold with a profit of Rs. 7;
each chair produced is sold for a Rs. 5 profit.
Flair Furniture’s problem is to determine the best possible combination of tables and
chairs to manufacture in order to reach the maximum profit. The firm would like this
production mix situation formulated as an LP problem.
Binding & Non-binding constraints

A constraint is binding if the LHS and the RHS of the constraint are equal
when the optimal values of the decision variables are substituted into the
constraint.

A constraint is non-binding if the LHS and the RHS of the constraint are
unequal when the optimal values of the decision variables are substituted
into the constraint.

The above imply that an equality constraint (= sign) will always be a

binding constraint
 Sensitivity Analysis
• Sensitivity analysis (or post-optimality analysis) is used to
determine how the optimal solution is affected by
changes, within specified ranges, in:
– the objective function coefficients
– the right-hand side (RHS) values
• Sensitivity analysis is important to the manager who must
operate in a dynamic environment with imprecise
estimates of the coefficients.
• Sensitivity analysis allows the manager to ask certain
what-if questions about the problem.
 The Dual in Linear Programming
• In LP the solution for the profit-maximizing combination of outputs
automatically determines the input amounts that must be used in the
production process.
• If the optimal output combination, suggested by the LP solution, uses up
all available inputs, we say that the capacity constraints are binding.
• Under this condition, any reduction/increase in the use of inputs will
reduce/increase the company’s profits.
 Right-Hand Sides
• Let us consider how a change in the right-hand side for a constraint
might affect the feasible region and perhaps cause a change in the
optimal solution.
• The improvement in the value of the optimal solution per unit
increase in the right-hand side is called as its Marginal Value.
• Marginal values are referred to as opportunity costs, because a
limitation on available resources may result in the loss of opportunity
to earn greater profit.
• It also referred to as dual price, shadow price..
• The range of feasibility is the range over which the dual price is
applicable.
 Dual Price

• Graphically, a dual price is determined by adding +1 to the right

hand side value in question and then resolving for the optimal
solution in terms of the same two binding constraints.
• The dual price is equal to the difference in the values of the
objective functions between the new and original problems.
• The dual price for a nonbinding constraint is 0.
• A negative dual price indicates that the objective function will not
improve if the RHS is increased.
 The Flair Furniture Company
• The primal linear programming problem represents the
perspective of the company’s objective to optimize resource
allocation by establishing quantities that will maximize profit.
• The dual linear programming represents a production plan
that optimizes resource allocation by ensuring that each
product is produced at that quantity such that its marginal
opportunity cost equals to marginal return.
• Objective: To deploy all resources optimally so that the
aggregate value of increasing any resource (carpentry time or
painting time) by one more unit is minimized.
• Constrains: Marginal opportunity cost to produce a table /
chair  marginal return of a table/chair.
Standard form of primal
For maximization problem constraints is of ``” sign.
For Minimization problem constraints is of ``” sign.

The initial problem is

Minimize Z = cx subject to Ax  b, x  0.
The corresponding dual problem is
Maximize Z* = b/w subject to A/w  c/, w  0.
Rule of Transformation
• Co-efficient matrix of the dual is the transpose of
the co-efficient matrix of the primal.
• Interchanging of c and b
• Changing the direction of the sign of inequality
• Minimization (maximization) of the objective
function instead of maximization (minimization).
The initial problem is
Maximize Z = cx subject to Ax  b, x  0. The
corresponding dual problem is
Minimize Z* = b/w subject to A/w  c/, w  0.
Write down the dual..
Maximize z = 3x + 5y
subject to 4x + y  7
x +2y  6, x, y  0.
 Primal-dual problems
• Symmetric primal-dual problems
All constraints of both primal and dual are inequations and the variables
are non-negative.
• Unsymmetric primal-dual problems
All constraints of primal are equations and primal variables are non-
negative.
• Mixed type problem
Some constraints of primal are equations and some variables are
unrestricted.
Properties
• Dual of dual is primal
• If the k-th constraint in a primal is an equality , then the
corresponding dual variable is unrestricted in sign
• If the p-th variable of a primal is unrestricted in sign, then the
corresponding p-th constraint of the dual is an equality.
If x* and w* are the feasible solutions to primal and
dual, respectively, such that c/x* = b/w*, then x*
and w* are optimal solutions respectively.
 Fundamental Duality Theorem
• If either the primal Maximize z =cx subject to Ax  b, x
 0, or the dual, minimize z* = b/w, subject to A/w c/,
w  0, has a finite optimal solution, then the other
problem will also have a finite optimal solution.
Furthermore, the the optimal values of the objective
functions in both the problems will be the same, i.e.,
Max z = Min z*.
• If either of the problems has an unbounded solution,
then the other problem has no feasible solution.
Question
Knitting Department
The manager of a knitting department has
developed the following LP model and the following
Excel output.
x : units of Product 1
y: units of product 2
z: units of product 3
maximize Z1 = 7x + 3y + 9z (profit)
subject to

Labour 4x + 5y + 6z ≤ 360 hours

Machine 2x + 4y + 6z ≤ 300 hours
Material 9x + 5y + 6z ≤ 600 pounds
x, y, z ≥0
 Questions

• Why is not product 2 called in for optimal solutions? How much

would the pre-unit profit of product 2 have to be in order for it to
enter into the optimal solution mix?
• What is the range of optimality for the profit per unit of Product 1?
• What would be the values in the optimal solution be if the objective
co-efficient of x were increased by 3?
 Questions
• What is the range of feasibility of the labour constraint?
• What would be the values in the optimal solution be if the
amount of labour available decreased by 10 hours?
• If the manager could obtain additional material, how much
more could be used effectively? What would happen if the
manager obtains more than this amount?
• If it is possible to obtain an additional amount of one of the
resources, which one should be obtained, and how much
can be effectively used? Explain.
Questions
• If the manager is able to obtain an additional 100
pounds of material at the usual price, what impact
would that have on the optimal value in the
objective function?
• If the manager is able to obtain an additional 100
pounds of material but has to pay a premium of 5
paisa a pound, what will the net profit be?
• If knitting machine operate 10 hours a day, and
one of the machine will be out of service for two
and a half days, what impact will this have on the
optimal value in the objective function?
XYZ is a new firm that is engaged in recycling. Its main
facility uses a three-step system to process beverages
containers. A consultant has developed the following
LP model.
Maximize 14Q + 11R + 15T (revenue)
Subject to
Sorting : 2.4Q + 3.0R + 4.0T ≤ 960 minutes
Crushing:2.5Q +1.8R + 2.4T ≤ 607 minutes
Packing : 12Q + 18R + 24T ≤ 3600 minutes
Q, R and T ≥ 0.
• Which decision variables are in the final solution? What are
the optimal values?
• Find the range of optimality for the variables that are in the
final solution.
• By how much would revenue decrease if sorting time reduced
to 900 minutes? How much would revenue increase if sorting
time was increased to 1,269 minutes.
• What effect would an increase of Rs. 2 in the revenue per unit
of T have on the optimal solution?
• If you could obtain additional quantities of any one resource at
no additional cost, and your goal is to achieve the greatest
increase in revenue, what resources would you add and how
much you would add.
Putter partners, Ins. makes three styles of putters-the Can’t Miss, the One Putt, and the Eagle. The requirements for each
putter are given in the following table.
__________________________________________________________________
Revenue Labour (hours/putter) Materials(grams/putter)
Putter (Rs./putter) ------------------------------------------------------------------
Casting Finishing Beryllium Titanium Steel
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Can’t Miss 80 0.5 0.7 400
One Putt 60 0.2 0.4 200 100
Eagle 55 0.1 0.3 350
Availability 40 100 20000 10000 50000
Cost/unit 15 20 0.07 0.10 0.04
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Putter partners only purchases as much of the three materials (beryllium, titanium, and steel) as it uses, at the prices
(expressed as Rs./gram) given in the “cost/unit” row of the table. In addition, it also treats labour as direct cost, paying only
for labour that it actually uses in the casting and finishing departments. These labour costs (expressed as Rs./hour) are also
given in the “Cost/Unit” row of the table.
The data in the “Availability” row of the table specify maximum amount of the resources that can be purchased in the current
planning period.
Putter Partners wants at least 10% of the putters it produces and sells to be Can’t Miss. In addition, the number of Can’t Miss
and One Putt putters (in total) must not be more than 50% of the total number of putters produced and sold.
Putter Partners have formulated a linear program to determine the mix of putters that should be produced and sold that
maximizes the total profit this planning period.

Source: George E. Monahan, Management Decision making Spreadsheet Modeling, Analysis and Applications
Questions
• How many of each type of putter should be produced?
• What is the maximum net profit that Putter Partners can
expect to generate?
• Suppose that Nishant, one of the best workers in the
casting department, requests overtime work for the next
planning period. He is requesting that he be paid a bonus
(money that is paid in addition to his regular salary) of Rs.
50 per hour and is willing to work any number of
additional hours in the Casting Department that are
requested of him.
• Should Putter Partners ask Nishant to work overtime in the casting
department? Why or why not?
• If so, how many hours of overtime should Mr. Nishant be asked
to work.
• What is Putter Partners’ net profit if Mr. Nishant works the
requested number of hours of overtime?
• We see that all of the titanium that is available from the supplier is
being used. Mr. Ashish, the supplier of titanium is reluctant to provide
any more of this metal this planning period, citing high demand from
other customers. Mr. Ashish admits that he has 1,000 grams of
titanium that is supposed to be sent to another customer, but, for the
right price, may be willing to sell it to Putter Partners instead. What is
the maximum total amount Putter partners willing to offer Mr. Ashish
for this 1000 grams of additional titanium? Show your calculations.
Problems
• The union leader Mr. Jayaram is demanding higher wages for the
workers in the Casting Department. He is demanding that the wage
rate in the Casting Department be commensurate with that in the
Finishing Department.
• what happens to the optimal production plan if the wage rate in
the Casting Department goes from Rs. 15 per hour to Rs. 20 per
hour? Why?
• What impact would this wage increase have on optimal profits? Be
specific.

• Putter Partners is thinking about changing the selling prices of its

products. In particular, it wants to raise the price of its Eagle Putter by
Rs. 2 and, at the same time, decrease the Can’t Miss Putter by Rs. 5.
Do you recommend that Putter Partners make these price changes?
Why or why not? (Be specific)