Linear Optimization –

Graphical Method
Problem 1
20 Mm3 of water is available in storage for irrigation of the two crops.
Crop A requires 9000 m3 of water per hectare of irrigated land and
produces a net income of Rs 7200/ha. Crop B requires 6000 m3/ha
and produces a profit of Rs 12000/ha. Crop A is limited to 1600 ha
and Crop B has an available land of 2400 ha for cultivation. Determine
the amount of land to be allocated for crop A and crop B, that will
maximize the income in rupees.

Solution
Objective function – maximize the revenues
Z = max (7200 x1 + 12000 x2)
Subject to:
9000 x1 + 6000 x2 ≤ 20 x 106
x1 ≤ 1600 and x2 ≤ 2400
x1 and x2 ≥ 0
Graphical method of solution
4000

3500

3000

2500 A
Y
Crop B

2000

1500

1000
C

500

0
0 500 1000 1500X 2000 2500
Crop A

Extreme Point Coordinates (x1, x2) Z value (Millions)

Y (0, 2400) 28.80
A* (600, 2400) 33.12
C (1600, 1000) 23.52
X (1600, 0) 11.52
Example 2: Minimum cost aggregate mix model
A construction site requires a minimum of 10,000 m3 of sand and
gravel mixture. The mixture must contain no less than 5000 m3 of
sand and no more than 6000 m3 of gravel. Materials may be
obtained from two sites:
Delivery cost
Site % Sand % Gravel
(Rs/m3)
1 5 30 70
2 7 60 40

Formulate and solve the problem by graphical means.

 Special Cases
 Alternative or multiple optimal solutions : LPs
have an infinite number of optimal solutions

 Some LPs have no feasible solutions – infeasible

LPs

 Some LPs are unbounded: There are points in

the feasible region with arbitrarily large (in a
max problem) z-values
Example: An auto company manufactures cars and trucks. Each vehicle must
be processed in the paint shop and body assembly shop. If the paint shop
were only painting trucks, then 40 per day could be painted. If the paint shop
were only painting cars, then 60 day per day could be painted. If the body
shop were only producing cars, then it could process 50 per day. If the body
shops were only producing trucks, then it could process 50 per day. Each truck
contributes $300 to profit, and each car contributes $200 to profit. Use LP to
determine a daily production schedule that will maximize the company’s
profits.
Solution
Decision variables
x1 = number of trucks produced daily
x2 = number of cars produced daily
Objective function
Max z = 3 x1 + 2 x2
Constraints
C1: The fraction of the day during which the paint shop is busy is less than or
equal to 1
C2: The fraction of the day during which the body shop is busy is less than
or equal to 1
 fraction of day   trucks  1
Fraction of day paint shop works on trucks =    x1
 truck   day  40

Fraction of day paint shop works on car = (1/60) × x2

Fraction of day body shop works on trucks = (1/50) × x1
Fraction of day body shop works on car = (1/50) × x2
C1: Paint shop constraint: (1/40) x1 + (1/60) x2 <= 1
C2: Body shop constraint: (1/50) x1 + (1/50) x2 <= 1
max z  3 x1  2 x2
1 1
s.t. x1  x2  1
40 60
1 1
x1  x2  1
50 50
x1 , x2  0
Case 1: Multiple or alternative solutions

C2

C1

 The feasible region for this LP model is the region bounded by AEDF
 Any point on line AE is the optimal solution to the model
 The technique of goal programming can be used to choose among the
alternative optimal solutions
Case 2: Infeasible LP
 It is possible for an LP’s feasible region to be empty (contain no points),
resulting in an infeasible LP.
 An infeasible LP has no optimal solution
 Suppose that auto dealers require that the auto company produce at
least 30 trucks and 20 cars. Find the optimal solution to the new LP.
max z  3 x1  2 x2
1 1
s.t. x1  x2  1 C1
40 60
1 1
x1  x2  1 C2
50 50
x1  30; x2  20 C3, C4

x1 , x2  0
 12

10
B

D F
8

x2
4 G
H
2

0
E A C
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
x1

 C1 is satisfied by all the points on or below AB

 C2 is satisfied by all the points on or below CD
 C3 is satisfied by all the points on or to the right of EF
 C4 is satisfied by all the points on or above GH
 It is therefore clear from the graph that no points satisfy all the
constraints
 This means that the LP model has an empty feasible region
Case 3: Unbounded LP
 For a max problem an unbounded LP occurs if it is possible to find
points in the feasible region with arbitrarily large z values, which
corresponds to a decision maker earning arbitrarily large revenues or
profits.
 An unbounded optimal solution should not occur in a correctly
formulated LP
12

max z  2 x1  x2 10

s.t. x1  x2  1 8

6
2 x1  x2  6
x2

x1 , x2  0 2

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
x1