OTM – 252 Assignment # 1

Introduction to Operations Research Due Date: Monday, June 24, 2019

QUESTION # 1 (20 points): A Pharmaceutical company produces the drug ALPHA from four
chemicals. Today they must produce 1,000 lb of drug. The three active ingredients in ALPHA are A,
B, and C. By weight, at least 8% of ALPHA must consist of A, at least 4% of B, and at least 2% of C.
The cost per pound of each chemical and the amount of each ingredient in 1 lb of each chemical are
given in table below. It is necessary that at least 100 lb of chemical 2 be used. Formulate an LP whose
solution would determine the cheapest way of producing today’s batch of ALPHA.

Chemical Cost per lb A B C

1 $8 0.03 0.02 0.01
2 $10 0.06 0.04 0.01
3 $11 0.10 0.03 0.04
4 $14 0.12 0.09 0.04

SOLUTION:

Decision Variables:
𝑋𝐴 = pounds of ingredient A used 𝑋1 = pounds of chemical 1 used
𝑋𝐵 = pounds of ingredient B used 𝑋2 = pounds of chemical 2 used
𝑋𝐶 = pounds of ingredient C used 𝑋3 = pounds of chemical 3 used
𝑋4 = pounds of chemical 4 used
Objective Function
𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑧𝑒 𝑍 = 8𝑋1 + 10𝑋2 + 11𝑋3 + 14𝑋4
Constraints
Minimum ingredient A requirement for the drug (in weight) 𝑋𝐴 ≥ (0.08)(1,000)
Minimum ingredient B requirement for the drug (in weight) 𝑋𝐵 ≥ (0.04)(1,000)
Minimum ingredient V requirement for the drug (in weight) 𝑋𝐶 ≥ (0.02)(1,000)
100 lbs of chemical 2 should be used 𝑋2 ≥ 100
Chemical content for chemical 1 𝑋1 = 0.03𝑋𝐴 + 0.02𝑋𝐵 + 0.01𝑋𝐶
Chemical content for chemical 2 𝑋2 = 0.06𝑋𝐴 + 0.04𝑋𝐵 + 0.01𝑋𝐶
Chemical content for chemical 3 𝑋3 = 0.10𝑋𝐴 + 0.03𝑋𝐵 + 0.01𝑋𝐶
Chemical content for chemical 4 𝑋4 = 0.12𝑋𝐴 + 0.09𝑋𝐵 + 0.01𝑋𝐶
Non-negativity 𝑋𝐴 , 𝑋𝐵 , 𝑋𝐶 , 𝑋1 , 𝑋2 , 𝑋3 , 𝑋4 ≥ 0
 QUESTION # 2 (20 points): Leary chemical manufactures three chemicals: A, B, and C. These
chemicals are produced via two production processes: 1 and 2. Running process 1 for an hour costs $4
and yields 3 units of A, 1 of B and 1 of C. Running process 2 for an hour costs $1 and produces 1 unit
of A and one unit of B. To meet customer demands, at least 10 units of A, 5 of B and 3 units of C must
be produced daily. Graphically determine a daily production plan that minimizes the cost of meeting
Leary Chemical’s daily demands.

SOLUTION:
Decision Variables:
𝑋1 = Number of hours of process of 1 used
𝑋2 = Number of hours of process of 2 used

Objective Function
𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑧𝑒 𝑍 = 4𝑋1 + 𝑋2

Constraints
For Chemical A 3𝑋1 + 𝑋2 ≥ 10
For Chemical B 𝑋1 + 𝑋2 ≥ 5
For Chemical C 𝑋1 ≥3
Non-negativity 𝑋1 , 𝑋2 ≥ 0
QUESTION # 3 (20 points): An automobile company is planning its fall advertising campaign to
unveil the new models for the coming year. The marketing department has assembled the following
data.

Viewers / Spot (in millions)

Medium Cost/spot
All viewers Youth
TV-Prime time $ 100,000 6 2.5
TV-Nonprime time $ 78,000 4 1.5
Radio $ 40,000 2.5 1
Newspapers and magazines $ 20,000 1 0.4

The company would like to limit their TV advertising expenses to $3 million and buy at least five prime
time spots and at least four nonprime time spots. They would like to buy a minimum of 6 radio
advertising units, and at least 9 advertising units in newspaper and magazines. They also want to make
sure that their message reaches at least 30 million youth viewers. It is required to devise an advertising
campaign costing no more than $12 million that reaches as many viewers as possible, subject to these
constraints. Ignoring any integer requirements of the variables, formulate this as a Linear Programming
model.

SOLUTION:

Decision Variables:
𝑋1 = Number of prime-time TV spots
𝑋2 = Number of nonprime time TV spots
𝑋3 = Number of radio advertising units
𝑋4 = Number of newspapers and magazines advertising units

Objective Function
𝑚𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑧𝑒 𝑍 = 6𝑋1 + 4𝑋2 + 2.5𝑋3 + 𝑋4
Constraints
TV advertising cost must be less than 3 million
100,000𝑋1 + 78,000𝑋2 ≤ 3,000,000

Minimum required number of each advertising units

𝑋1 ≥ 5
𝑋2 ≥ 4
𝑋3 ≥ 6
𝑋4 ≥ 9

Total number of youth viewers must be greater than 30 million

2.5𝑋1 + 1.5𝑋2 + 𝑋3 + 0.4𝑋4 ≥ 30

Total advertising campaign budget limit

100,000𝑋1 + 78,000𝑋2 + 40,000𝑋3 + 20,000𝑋4 ≤ 12,000,000

Non-negativity
𝑋1 , 𝑋2 , 𝑋3 , 𝑋4 ≥ 0
QUESTION # 4 (20 points): A post office requires different numbers of full-time employees on
different days of the week. The number of full-time employees required on each day is given in
following Table. Union rules state that each full-time employee must work five consecutive days and
then receive two days off. For example, an employee who works Monday to Friday must be off on
Saturday and Sunday. The post office wants to meet its daily requirements using only fulltime
employees. Formulate an LP that the post office can use to minimize the number of full-time employees
who must be hired.

Day Number of Full Time Employees Required

1 = Monday 17
2 = Tuesday 13
3 = Wednesday 15
4 = Thursday 19
5 = Friday 14
6 = Saturday 16
7 = Sunday 11

Decision Variables:
𝑥𝑖 = 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑦𝑒𝑒𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑜𝑛 𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑖
For example, 𝑥1 is the number of people beginning work on Monday (these people work Monday to
Friday). With the variables properly defined, it is easy to determine the objective function and
constraints. To determine the objective function, note that (number of full-time employees) = (number
of employees who start work on Monday) + (number of employees who start work on Tuesday) + … +
(number of employees who start work on Sunday). Because each employee begins work on exactly one
day of the week, this expression does not double-count employees. the objective function is
𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑧𝑒 𝑧 = 𝑥1 + 𝑥2 + 𝑥3 + 𝑥4 + 𝑥5 + 𝑥6 + 𝑥7
The post office must ensure that enough employees are working on each day of the week. For example,
at least 17 employees must be working on Monday. Who is working on Monday? Everybody except
the employees who begin work on Tuesday or on Wednesday (they get, respectively, Sunday and
Monday, and Monday and Tuesday off). This means that the number of employees working on Monday
is 𝑥1 + 𝑥4 + 𝑥5 + 𝑥6 + 𝑥7 . To ensure that at least 17 employees are working on Monday, we require
that the following constraint should be satisfied
𝑥1 + 𝑥4 + 𝑥5 + 𝑥6 + 𝑥7 ≥ 17
Therefore, mathematical model for the given problem is formulated as follows;
QUESTION # 5 (20 points): Consider the following linear program:

(a) Graph the feasible region of the LP.

(b) Are any of the above constraints redundant? If so, indicate which one(s).
(c) Solve the LP using graphical method
(d) Is there more then one optimal solution? If so, give two different solutions. If not explain using
the graphical method, why not
(e) Suppose we add the constraint 2𝑥1 + 𝑥2 ≥ 𝛼. For which values of 𝛼
▪ is the constraint redundant
▪ the optimal solution found above is no longer optimal
▪ the problem becomes infeasible
(f) Replace the objective function 𝑥1 + 2𝑥2 with the objective function 𝑥1 + 𝛽𝑥2 and compute the
values of 𝛽 for which point (2.5, 1.5) is optimal

a)

b)
YES, the constraint 𝑥2 ≤ 3 is redundant since deleting this constraint does not change the feasible
region.

c)
The optimal solution is clearly the point with coordinates (1,3).

d)
NO, because the objective function contour is not parallel to any of the constraint line.
e)
The constraint 2𝑥1 + 𝑥2 ≥ 𝛼 has a feasible region lying to the right-hand side of the line 2𝑥1 + 𝑥2 = α.
There it is easy to see that for 𝛼 ∈ [−∞, 0], the constraint is redundant. The current solution (1,3) is no
longer optimal it is cutoff for the feasible region by the constraint. The line 2𝑥1 + 𝑥2 =α passes through
(1,3) for 𝛼 = 5. Therefore, the current solution is no longer optimal for 𝛼 ∈ (5, ∞]. Finally, the problem
becomes infeasible if all the feasible points are cut off. The last point to be cut of is (2.5,1.5) for 𝛼 =
6.5. Therefore, problem becomes infeasible for 𝛼 ∈ (6.5, ∞].

f)
Starting from the original objective function 𝑥1 + 2𝑥2, which has a slope of -1/2, it can be observed
that we must decrease the slope of the objective function to make (2.5,1.5) optimal. Notice that the
slope is equal to -1/β. When 𝛽 = 1, the objective function line is parallel to the constraint 𝑥1 + 𝑥2 ≤ 4,
with slope -1 and the whole segment between (1,3) and (2.5, 1.5) is optimal. In order to decrease the
slope -1, we have to decrease 𝛽. As 𝛽 approaches 0, the objective function becomes a vertical line and
the whole segment between (2.5,0) and (2.5,1.5) is optimal. Therefore, point (2.5,1.5) is optimal for
𝛽 ∈ [0,1].