Introduction

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Introduction

Dr. Son P. Nguyen

UEL
VNU in Ho Chi Minh

October 4, 2024

Dr. Son P. Nguyen Introduction

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Table of Contents

1 Introduction

2 An example

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Mathematical Modeling

Creates a mathematical representation of some phenomenon

to better understand it.
Matches observation with symbolic representation.
Informs theory and explanation.
The success of a mathematical model depends on how easily it can
be used, and how accurately it predicts and how well it explains
the phenomenon being studied.

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Mathematical Modeling Problem-Solving Steps

Identify problem area

Conduct background research
State project goal
Define relationships
Develop mathematical model
Develop computational algorithm
Perform test calculations
Interpret results
Communicate results

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Process of mathematical modeling

Dr. Son P. Nguyen Introduction

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Table of Contents

1 Introduction

2 An example

Dr. Son P. Nguyen Introduction

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SilComputers
Problem
SilComputer would like to determine the number of laptops and
desktops produced tomorrow to maximize their profits. Selling
each laptop brings a profit of 750 and selling each desktop brings a
profit of 1000. However, the manufacturer have the following
constraints
1 Each computer (laptop or desktop) needs one CPU and the
inventory for CPU is currently at 10 units.
2 Each laptop needs 16MB RAM and each desktop needs 32MB
RAM. The company has 15 units of 16MB RAM in stock.
3 The assembly time for a laptop and a desktop are 4 minutes
and 3 minutes respectively. The total assembly time is 25
minutes
Formulate an LP and solve it to find an optimal solution.
Dr. Son P. Nguyen Introduction
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SilComputers
Problem
SilComputer would like to determine the number of laptops and
desktops produced tomorrow to maximize their profits. Selling
each laptop brings a profit of 750 and selling each desktop brings a
profit of 1000. However, the manufacturer have the following
constraints
1 Each computer (laptop or desktop) needs one CPU and the
inventory for CPU is currently at 10 units.
2 Each laptop needs 16MB RAM and each desktop needs 32MB
RAM. The company has 15 units of 16MB RAM in stock.
3 The assembly time for a laptop and a desktop are 4 minutes
and 3 minutes respectively. The total assembly time is 25
minutes
Formulate an LP and solve it to find an optimal solution.
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LP model

Let x1 and x2 be the number of laptops and desktops to be

produced (decision variables)
The objective function: z = 750x1 + 1000x2

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LP model

Let x1 and x2 be the number of laptops and desktops to be

produced (decision variables)
The objective function: z = 750x1 + 1000x2
The constraints:
1 x1 + x2 ≤ 10
2 x1 + 2x2 ≤ 15
3 4x1 + 3x2 ≤ 25
4 Sign constraints: x1 , x2 ≥ 0

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LP model

Let x1 and x2 be the number of laptops and desktops to be

produced (decision variables)
The objective function: z = 750x1 + 1000x2
The constraints:
1 x1 + x2 ≤ 10
2 x1 + 2x2 ≤ 15
3 4x1 + 3x2 ≤ 25
4 Sign constraints: x1 , x2 ≥ 0

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The graphical method

The first constraint

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The graphical method

The feasible region

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The graphical method

The solution

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The graphical method

The solution is at the intersection point of the two lines

x1 + 2x2 = 15
4x1 + 3x2 = 25

Solve the linear system to get the optimal solution (1, 7)

corresponding to the maximum profit z = $7, 750.

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The graphical method

The solution is at the intersection point of the two lines

x1 + 2x2 = 15
4x1 + 3x2 = 25

Solve the linear system to get the optimal solution (1, 7)

corresponding to the maximum profit z = $7, 750.

Recall
The optimal solution happens on the boundary of the feasible
region.
In particular, it is at a vertex of the feasible region.

Dr. Son P. Nguyen Introduction

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The graphical method

The solution is at the intersection point of the two lines

x1 + 2x2 = 15
4x1 + 3x2 = 25

Solve the linear system to get the optimal solution (1, 7)

corresponding to the maximum profit z = $7, 750.

Recall
The optimal solution happens on the boundary of the feasible
region.
In particular, it is at a vertex of the feasible region.

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Exercise 1
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 brand of feed contains, in
varying proportions, some or all of the three nutritional ingredients
essential for fattening turkeys. Each kilogram of brand 1 contains
5 grams of ingredient A, 4 grams of ingredient B and 0,5 grams of
ingredient C. Each kilogram of brand 2 contains 10 grams of
ingredient A, 3 grams of ingredient B, but nothing of ingredient C.
The brand 1 feed costs the Ranch 20c a kilogram, while the brand
2 feed costs 30c a kilogram. The minimum monthly requirement
per turkey is: 90 grams of ingredient A; 48 grams of ingredient B
and 1,5 grams of ingredient C. Formulate an LP model to help the
rancher decide how to mix the two brands of turkey feed so that
the minimum monthly intake requirement for each nutritional
ingredient is met at minimum cost. Use the graphical approach to
solve this model.
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Exercise 2

Giapetto’s Woodcarving, Inc., manufactures two types of wooden

toys; soldiers and trains. A soldier sells for R27 and uses R10 worth
of raw materials. Each soldier that is manufactured increases
Giapetto’s labour and overhead costs by R14. A train sells for R21
and uses R9 worth of raw materials. Each train built increases
Giapetto’s labour and overhead costs by R10. A train requires one
hour of carpentry and one hour of finishing. A soldier requires two
hours of finishing and one hour of carpentry. Only 100 finishing
hours and 80 carpentry hours are available each week. Demand for
trains is unlimited, but at most 40 soldiers are bought each week.
Giapetto wishes to maximise weekly profits. Use the graphical
approach to find the optimal solution.

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Exercise 3
The ACE Manufacturing Company produces two lines of its
product, the “Super” and the “Regular”. Resource requirements
for production are as follows:

Product Profit Assembly Paint time Inspection

line (R/unit) time (hours) (hours) time (hours)
Regular 50 1.0 0.4 0.2
Super 75 0.8 0.5 0.4
There are 160 hours of assembly time and 80 hours of paint time
available per week. The inspection on each product is done by a
team of quality controllers who work 40 hours per week. From past
data ACE’s management knows that the demand for their products
always exceeds the production, but they also know that they
usually sell at least double as many “Regular” as “Super”
products. Formulate as an LP model and use the graphical
approach to solve it.
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Acme Bicycle

The physical data on the production process is available from the

company engineer. A different team produces each kind of bicycle,
and each team has a different maximum production
ratel.2mountain bikes per day and 3 racers per day, respectively.
Producing a bicycle of either type requires the same amount of
time on the metal finishing machine (a production bottleneck), and
this machine can process at most a total of 4 bicycles per day, of
either type. The company accountant estimates that mountain
bikes are currentiy generating a profit of around $15-gertieyqle,
and racers a profit of around $10 per bicycle.

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Smalltime Mutual Funds

You are the investments manager for the Smalltime Mutual Funds
Company, and are trying to determine how to invest a pool of $14
million released by cashin! o,.ri so-e of the stock investments.
Table 2.1 summarizes the information that you have about a set of
five possible investments. To be as conservative as possible, you
assume that in the event of a loss by the investment, you lose all
of your money. This is a fairly serious assumption, since most
mutual fund investments are likely to lose some but not all of their
value. On the other hand, you also assume that if there is not a
loss, then the investment will grow by the growth rate shown.

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For policy reasons, there are limits on how you can invest the
money. You must allocate at least 35% of the total funds available
to the balanced and bond investments. Of all the money put into
equity, special equity and foreign investments, at least half must be
in the equity investment. Finally, the expected lost capital must be
less than 10%. Of course, your overall objective is to maximize the
return on the original pool of money.

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Smalltime Mutual Funds

This is a textbook problem, so the data is stated much more
succinctly and clearly than in real world problems, which are
plagued by misleading, hidden, and spurious information. Still,
extracting an LP formulation from even a textbook word problem
can be harder than it seems. You can test yourself by trying to
answer the questions posed in the next few paragraphs before
reading the answers.
Type of Investment Annual Growth Probability of
Rate Loss
Equity 0.15 0.18
Special Equity 0.21 0.31
Balanced 0.11 0.09
Foreign 0.19 0.19
Bond 0.08 0.03
Table: Investments available to the Smalltime Mutual Funds Company
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Mega Marketing

Mega Marketing is planning a concentrated one week advertising

campaign for their new CutsEverything SuperKnife. The ads have
been designed and produced and now they wish to determine how
much money to spend in each advertising outlet. In reality, they
have hundreds of possible outlets to choose from. We will illustrate
their problem with two outlets: Prime time TV, and magazines.
The problem of optimally spending advertising dollars can be
formulated in many ways. For instance, given a fixed budget, the
goal might be to maximize the number of target customers
reached ( a target customer is a customer with a reasonable
chance of purchasing the product)

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Mega Marketing

Again, Mega Marketing is interested in a straightforward answers

like how many units of each outlet to purchase to meet the
segment goals.

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Solve the following LP models graphically.

Maximize C = 3A + 5B (1)
subject to: (2)
A≥5 (3)
B ≤ 10 (4)
A + 2B ≥ 10 (5)
B≥0 (6)

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Solve the following LP models graphically.

Maximize Z = P + Q (7)
subject to: (8)
P + 2Q ≤ 6 (9)
2P + Q ≤ 8 (10)
P≥7 (11)
Q≥0 (12)

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THANK YOU !

Dr. Son P. Nguyen Introduction