Chapter 10 Solutions 1

10.3.1) The owner of a chain of three grocery stores has purchased 5 crates of fresh
strawberries. The estimated probability distribution of potential sales of the strawberries
before spoilage differs among the three stores. Therefore, the owner wants to know how to
allocate 5 crates to the three stores to maximize expected profit.
For administrative reasons, the owner does not wish to split crates between stores.
However, he is willing to distribute no crates to any of his stores. The following table gives
estimated expected profit at each store when it is allocated various numbers of crates.

Crates 1 2 3
0 0 0 0
1 5 6 4
2 9 11 9
3 14 15 13
4 17 19 18
5 21 22 20
Store
Soln:
Let x
n
= number crates allocated to a store
p
n
(x
n
) = expected profit from allocating x
n
crates to store n
s
n
= number of crates remaining

f
n
(s
n
) = max { p
n
(x
n
) + f
n+1
*
(s
n
-x
n
) }
Chapter 10 Solutions 1
10.3.1)
Crates 1 2 3
0 0 0 0
1 5 6 4
2 9 11 9
3 14 15 13
4 17 19 18
5 21 22 20
Store
Soln:
Let x
n
= number crates allocated to a store
p
n
(x
n
) = expected profit from allocating x
n
crates to store n
s
n
= number of crates remaining

f
n
(s
n
) = max { p
n
(x
n
) + f
n+1
*
(s
n
-x
n
) }
5 5
4
3
2
1
0
5
4
3
2
1
0
0
Store 1 Store 2 Store 3
Chapter 10 Solutions 1
10.3.1)
Crates 1 2 3
0 0 0 0
1 5 6 4
2 9 11 9
3 14 15 13
4 17 19 18
5 21 22 20
Store
Soln:
Let x
n
= number crates allocated to a store
p
n
(x
n
) = expected profit from allocating x
n
crates to store n
s
n
= number of crates remaining

f
n
(s
n
) = max { p
n
(x
n
) + f
n+1
*
(s
n
-x
n
) }
5 5
4
3
2
1
0
5
4
3
2
1
0
0
Store 1 Store 2 Store 3
s
3
f
3
*
(s
3
) x
3
*
0 0 0
1 4 1
2 9 2
3 13 3
4 18 4
5 20 5
Chapter 10 Solutions 1
10.3.1)
Crates 1 2 3
0 0 0 0
1 5 6 4
2 9 11 9
3 14 15 13
4 17 19 18
5 21 22 20
Store
Soln:
Let x
n
= number crates allocated to a store
p
n
(x
n
) = expected profit from allocating x
n
crates to store n
s
n
= number of crates remaining

f
n
(s
n
) = max { p
n
(x
n
) + f
n+1
*
(s
n
-x
n
) }
5 5
4
3
2
1
0
5
4
3
2
1
0
0
Store 1 Store 2 Store 3
s
3
f
3
*
(s
3
) x
3
*
0 0 0
1 4 1
2 9 2
3 13 3
4 18 4
5 20 5
Chapter 10 Solutions 1
10.3.1)
5 5
4
3
2
1
0
5
4
3
2
1
0
0
Store 1 Store 2 Store 3
s
2
0 1 2 3 4 5
f
2
*
(s
2
) x
2
*
0 0 0 0
1 4 6+0 6 1
2 9 6+4 11+0 11 2
3 13 6+9 11+4 15+0 15 1,2,3
4 18 6+13 11+9 15+4 19+0 20 2
5 20 6+18 11+13 15+9 19+4 22+0 24 1,2,3
x
2
Chapter 10 Solutions 1
10.3.1)
5 5
4
3
2
1
0
5
4
3
2
1
0
0
Store 1 Store 2 Store 3
s
1
0 1 2 3 4 5
f
1
*
(s
1
) x
1
*
5 0+24 5+20 9+15 14+11 17+6 21+0 25 1,3
x
1
Optimal Allocation
5 5
4
3
2
1
0
5
4
3
2
1
0
0
Store 1 Store 2 Store 3
Optimal path
Optimal path from
a given state
Chapter 10 Solutions 1
10.3.2) A college student has 7 days remaining before final examinations begin in her four
courses and she wants to allocate this study time as effectively as possible. She needs at
least 1 day on each course, and she likes to concentrate on just one course each day, so she
wants to allocate 1, 2, 3, or 4 days to each course. Having recently taken an O.R. course,
she decides to use dynamic programming to make the allocations so as to maximize the
total grade points.

Soln:
Let x
n
= number days allocated to a course
p
n
(x
n
) = grade points earned from allocating x
n
days to course n
s
n
= number of days remaining

f
n
(s
n
) = max { p
n
(x
n
) + f
n+1
*
(s
n
-x
n
) }
Study Days 1 2 3 4
1 3 5 2 6
2 5 5 4 7
3 6 6 7 9
4 7 9 8 9
Grade Points per Course
7
6
5
4
3
5
4
3
2
Course 1 Course 2 Course 3
Chapter 10 Solutions 1
10.3.2)
Soln:
Let x
n
= number days allocated to a course
p
n
(x
n
) = grade points earned from allocating x
n
days to course n
s
n
= number of days remaining

f
n
(s
n
) = max { p
n
(x
n
) + f
n+1
*
(s
n
-x
n
) }
7
6
5
4
3
5
4
3
2
Course 1 Course 2 Course 3 Course 4
4
3
2
1
0
s
4
f
4
*
(s
4
) x
4
*
1 6 1
2 7 2
3 9 3
4 9 4
Chapter 10 Solutions 1
10.3.2)
Soln:
Let x
n
= number days allocated to a course
p
n
(x
n
) = grade points earned from allocating x
n
days to course n
s
n
= number of days remaining

f
n
(s
n
) = max { p
n
(x
n
) + f
n+1
*
(s
n
-x
n
) }
7
6
5
4
3
5
4
3
2
Course 1 Course 2 Course 3 Course 4
4
3
2
1
0
s
3
1 2 3 4
f
3
*
(s
3
) x
3
*
2 8 8 1
3 9 10 10 2
4 11 11 13 13 3
5 11 13 14 14 14 3,4
Chapter 10 Solutions 1
10.3.2)
Soln:
Let x
n
= number days allocated to a course
p
n
(x
n
) = grade points earned from allocating x
n
days to course n
s
n
= number of days remaining

f
n
(s
n
) = max { p
n
(x
n
) + f
n+1
*
(s
n
-x
n
) }
7
6
5
4
3
5
4
3
2
Course 1 Course 2 Course 3 Course 4
4
3
2
1
0
s
2
1 2 3 4
f
2
*
(s
2
) x
2
*
3 13 13 1
4 15 13 15 1
5 18 15 14 18 1
6 19 18 16 17 19 1
Chapter 10 Solutions 1
10.3.2)
Soln:
Let x
n
= number days allocated to a course
p
n
(x
n
) = grade points earned from allocating x
n
days to course n
s
n
= number of days remaining

f
n
(s
n
) = max { p
n
(x
n
) + f
n+1
*
(s
n
-x
n
) }
7
6
5
4
3
5
4
3
2
Course 1 Course 2 Course 3 Course 4
4
3
2
1
0
s
1
1 2 3 4
f
1
*
(s
1
) x
1
*
7 22 23 21 20 23 2
Optimal
x
1
* x
2
* x
3
* x
4
*
1 2 1 3 1
Chapter 10 Solutions 1
10.3.7) Consider an electronic system consisting of four components, each of which must
work for the system to function. The reliability of the system can be improved by installing
several parallel units in one or more components. The following table gives the probability
that the respective components will function if they consist of one, two, or three parallel
units:





The probability that the system will function is the product of the probabilities that the
respective components will function. The cost (in $100s) of installing 1, 2, or 3 parallel
units in the respective components is given by the following table: (total budget = $1,000).

Soln:
Let x
n
= number parallel units for component n
p
n
(x
n
) = probability component will function with x
n
parallel units
c
n
(x
n
) = cost of installing x
n
units
s
n
= number of $ in 100s remaining

f
n
(s
n
) = max { p
n
(x
n
) * f
n+1
*
(s
n
-c
n
(x
n
) }
Units Comp 1 Comp 2 Comp 3 Comp 4
1 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.5
2 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.7
3 0.8 0.8 0.9 0.9
Probability of Functioning
Units Comp 1 Comp 2 Comp 3 Comp 4
1 1 2 1 2
2 2 4 3 3
3 3 5 4 4
Cost
Chapter 10 Solutions 1
10.3.7)
Soln:
Let x
n
= number parallel units for component n
p
n
(x
n
) = probability component will function with x
n
parallel units
c
n
(x
n
) = cost of installing x
n
units
s
n
= number of $ in 100s remaining

f
n
(s
n
) = max { p
n
(x
n
) * f
n+1
*
(s
n
-c
n
(x
n
) }
Units Comp 1 Comp 2 Comp 3 Comp 4
1 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.5
2 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.7
3 0.8 0.8 0.9 0.9
Probability of Functioning
Units Comp 1 Comp 2 Comp 3 Comp 4
1 1 2 1 2
2 2 4 3 3
3 3 5 4 4
Cost
s
4
f
4
*
(s
4
) x
4
*
0 0 0
1 0 0
2 0.5 1
3 0.7 2
4-10 0.9 3
Chapter 10 Solutions 1
10.3.7)
Soln:
Units Comp 1 Comp 2 Comp 3 Comp 4
1 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.5
2 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.7
3 0.8 0.8 0.9 0.9
Probability of Functioning
Units Comp 1 Comp 2 Comp 3 Comp 4
1 1 2 1 2
2 2 4 3 3
3 3 5 4 4
Cost
s
4
f
4
*
(s
4
) x
4
*
0 0 0
1 0 0
2 0.5 1
3 0.7 2
4-10 0.9 3
s
3
1 2 3
f
3
*
(s
3
) x
3
*
0 - 0 0
1 0 0 0,1
2 0 0 0,1
3 0.35 0 0.35 1
4 0.49 0 0 0.49 1
5 0.63 0.4 0 0.63 1
6 0.63 0.56 0.45 0.63 1
7 0.63 0.72 0.63 0.72 2
8-10 0.63 0.72 0.81 0.81 3
Chapter 10 Solutions 1
10.3.7)
Soln:
Units Comp 1 Comp 2 Comp 3 Comp 4
1 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.5
2 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.7
3 0.8 0.8 0.9 0.9
Probability of Functioning
Units Comp 1 Comp 2 Comp 3 Comp 4
1 1 2 1 2
2 2 4 3 3
3 3 5 4 4
Cost
s
2
1 2 3
f
2
*
(s
2
) x
2
*
2 0 0 0,1
3 0 0 0,1
4 0 0 0 0,1,2
5 0.21 0 0 0.21 1
6 0.294 0 0 0.294 1
7 0.378 0.245 0 0.378 1
8 0.378 0.343 0.28 0.378 1
9 0.432 0.441 0.392 0.441 2
10 0.486 0.441 0.504 0.504 3
s
3
1 2 3
f
3
*
(s
3
) x
3
*
0 - 0 0
1 0 0 0,1
2 0 0 0,1
3 0.35 0 0.35 1
4 0.49 0 0 0.49 1
5 0.63 0.4 0 0.63 1
6 0.63 0.56 0.45 0.63 1
7 0.63 0.72 0.63 0.72 2
8-10 0.63 0.72 0.81 0.81 3
Chapter 10 Solutions 1
10.3.7)
Soln:
Units Comp 1 Comp 2 Comp 3 Comp 4
1 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.5
2 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.7
3 0.8 0.8 0.9 0.9
Probability of Functioning
Units Comp 1 Comp 2 Comp 3 Comp 4
1 1 2 1 2
2 2 4 3 3
3 3 5 4 4
Cost
s
2
1 2 3
f
2
*
(s
2
) x
2
*
2 0 0 0,1
3 0 0 0,1
4 0 0 0 0,1,2
5 0.21 0 0 0.21 1
6 0.294 0 0 0.294 1
7 0.378 0.245 0 0.378 1
8 0.378 0.343 0.28 0.378 1
9 0.432 0.441 0.392 0.441 2
10 0.486 0.441 0.504 0.504 3
s
1
1 2 3
f
1
*
(s
1
) x
1
*
10 0.22 0.227 0.302 0.302 3
Optimal
x
1
* x
2
* x
3
* x
4
*
1 3 1 1 3