Problem Set B (Graphical Method)
Problem 1
An airline offers coach and first-class tickets. For the airline to be profitable, it must sell a
minimum of 25 first-class tickets and a minimum of 40 coach tickets. The company makes a
profit of $225 for each coach ticket and $200 for each first-class ticket. At most, the plane has
a capacity of 150 travellers. How many of each ticket should be sold to maximize profits?
Answer:
Coach Tickets = 125,
First Class Tickets = 25,
Z = 33125
Problem 2
A public relations director for a homeopathic company is seeking to
advertise her company’s products on two different websites—one is a
medical parts supplier and the other is a fitness e-zine (a web-based
magazine). The medical parts supplier website receives, on average,
about 1,200,000 hits per day per page, while the fitness e-zine receives
about 2,000,000 hits per day per page. The daily cost to advertise is
₹1,100 per advertisement and ₹1,600 per advertisement, respectively.
The director would like at least 15 ads and is able to allocate up to
₹50,000 for advertising. At least 3 ads should be placed on each website.
How many adds should be placed on each website to maximize the
potential number of readers (even if some viewers see the add on
different pages of the website)?
Answer:
Ads on Medical Parts Suppliers = 3,
Ads on e-zine = 29.1875,
Z = 61975000
Problem 3
The Two Mines Company own two different mines that produce an ore which, after being
crushed, is graded into three classes: high, medium, and low-grade. The company has
contracted to provide a smelting plant with 12 tons of high-grade, 8 tons of medium-grade
and 24 tons of low-grade ore per week. The two mines have different operating
characteristics as detailed below.
Mine Cost per day (₹'000) Production (tons/day)
High Medium Low
X 180 6 3 4
Y 160 1 1 6
a) Formulate the above problem as an LP.
b) How many days per week should each mine be operated to fulfil the smelting plant
contract.? The company operates on a 5 day a week basis.
Answer:
Mine X to be operated in a week= 12/7 days,
Mine Y to be operated in a week = 20/7 days,
Z = ₹765710
Problem 4
Dwija is an elementary school teacher who also raises hen for
supplemental income. She is trying to decide what to feed her hens. She
is considering using a combination of hen feeds available from local
suppliers. She would like to feed the hen at minimum cost while also
making sure each hen receives an adequate supply of calories and
vitamins.
The cost, calorie content, and vitamin content of each feed are given in
the table below.
Contents Feed Type A Feed Type B
Calories (per kg) 800 1,000
Vitamins (per kg) 140 units 70 units
Cost (per kg) ₹ 50 ₹ 80
Each hen requires at least 8,000 calories per day and at least 700 units of
vitamins. A further constraint is that no more than one-third of the diet (by
weight) can consist of Feed Type A, since it contains an ingredient which
is toxic if consumed in too large a quantity.
(a) Formulate a linear programming model for this problem.
(b) Use the graphical method to solve this model. What is the resulting
daily cost per hen?
Answer:
Feed Type A to be purchased= 20/7 kg,
Feed Type B to be purchased = 40/7 kg,
Z = ₹ 600
Problem 5
A company makes two products (X and Y) using two machines (A and B).
Each unit of X that is produced requires 50 minutes processing time on machine A
and 30 minutes processing time on machine B. Each unit of Y that is produced requires 24
minutes processing time on machine A and 33 minutes processing time on machine B.
At the start of the current week there are 30 units of X and 90 units of Y in stock. Available
processing time on machine A is forecast to be 40 hours and on machine B is forecast to be
35 hours.
The demand for X in the current week is forecast to be 75 units and for Y is forecast to be 95
units. Company policy is to maximise the combined sum of the units of X and the units of Y
in stock at the end of the week.
Formulate the problem of deciding how much of each product to make in the current
week as a linear program.
Solve this linear program graphically.
Answer:
Product X to be produced = 45,
Product Y to be produced Y = 6.25,
Z = 1.25
