Problem Statement

Mike owns a bakery on Roast Meat Hill Road in Connecticut. He is selling miniature apple pies
and cinnamon rolls. He has a limited amount of sugar, a limited amount of dishes, and the
children in his basement can only make a limited amount of desserts.

Question
Mike needs to know how many of each dessert he should make to maximize his profit, while
staying within his constraints.

Constraints
Sugar- Mike has exactly 100 cups of sugar available. (He’s someone who likes round, nice
numbers.) Each batch of cinnamon rolls takes 3 cups and each batch of pies takes ½ cup.

Trays- Each batch of cinnamon rolls takes 6 trays, and each batch of mini pies takes 4 trays.
Mike has a total of 100 trays available.

Unpaid child workers- Mike has a total of 100 unpaid child workers making desserts for him.
Each child can make 5 batches of cinnamon rolls or 10 batches of pies before they collapse.
The children are only assigned to make one dessert per shift.
Constraint Pies Cinnamon Rolls Total

Sugar 8 tbsp (1/2 cup) 3 cups Maximum of 100

cups

Trays 4 pan 6 pans Maximum of 100

pans

Child Workers One worker can One worker can 100 available
make 10 make 5 batches children
batches of pies of rolls

Pricing
Pies: $18.54 per batch of 40 pies
Cinnamon Rolls: $68 per batch of 50 rolls

Inequalities:
Sugar: 0.5p + 3c ≤ 100
Trays: 4𝑝 + 6𝑐 ≤ 100
Child Workers: 10𝑝 + 5𝑐 ≤ 50
3 solutions:
● 2.5 pies, 15 cinnamon rolls
● 7 pies, 6 cinnamon rolls
● 9 pies, 2 cinnamon rolls

2.5 pies and 15 cinnamon rolls turns a profit of $1,207.50. 7 pies and 6 cinnamon rolls turns a
profit of $933. And 9 & 2 gives a profit of $833. So although the first option isn’t the most
realistic for a bakery IRL to make, it is the most profitable.

Profit equation: 75x + 68y.

Reflection:
What was something challenging for you during this unit, and how did you overcome that
challenge?
Something that was challenging for me during this unit was figuring out how margin and markup
worked, and just working with them in general. During our first couple of assignments for this
unit, I was kind of lethargic and didn’t even make an attempt to do any of the problems. This led
to me having an even worse understanding of the two concepts, and I realized this. I also
realized that if I didn’t practice these concepts, pay attention, and make a concerted effort to
understand it, I was never going to. So, I decided to start paying attention and trying the
problems, and this really helped me to work through the difficulties I was having. This sudden
surge in paying attention and putting in a lot of effort really paid off. I ended up with a decent
understanding, and now I feel relatively confident in my abilities to handle these problems.