Homework I Solutions

ESI5306 Operations Research

1. Decision Variables:

x1 : number of hours production unit 1 is used (1)

x2 : number of hours production unit 2 is used (2)

Objective function:
The sum of the cost of the two running processes have to be minimized.

min 4x1 + x2 (3)

Constraints:

3x1 + x2 10 (4)
x1 + x2 5 (5)
x1 3 (6)
x1 , x2 0 (7)

This leads to the following LP:

min 4x1 + x2 (8)

s.t. 3x1 + x2 10 (9)
x1 + x2 5 (10)
x1 3 (11)
x1 , x2 0 (12)

2. Decision Variables:

x1 : number of bookshelves produced (13)

x2 : number of couches produced (14)
x3 : number of worktables produced (15)

Objective function:
We want to maximize the profit.

max 6x1 + 5x2 + 8x3 (16)

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 Constraints:

12x1 + 14x2 + 16x3 400 (17)

40x1 + 22x2 + 60x3 1000 (18)
x1 , x2 , x3 0 (19)

This leads to the following LP:

max 6x1 + 5x2 + 8x3 (20)

s.t. 12x1 + 14x2 + 16x3 400 (21)
40x1 + 22x2 + 60x3 1000 (22)
x1 , x2 , x3 0 (23)

3. See Figure 1 Problem 3. The optimal solution is (x, y) = (1.8, 4.8). The point is
derived by solving the following system of linear equations:

4x + y = 12
2x + 3y = 18

Figure 1: Problem 3, Feasible Region and Optimal Solution

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4. (a) The transformed problem is as follows,
max 2x + y (24)
s.t. 4x + y + s1 = 12 (25)
2x + 3y + s2 = 18 (26)
x + 2y d1 = 4 (27)
x, y, s1 , s2 , d1 0 (28)
(b) See figure 2 Problem 4(b). The optimum is reach at point (x, y) = ( 20 4
7 , 7 ),
which is the intersection of the following two lines,
4x + y = 12
x + 2y = 4

Figure 2: Problem 4(b), Feasible Region and Optimal Solution

(c) See Figure 3 Problem 4(c). The optimum is reached at point (x, y) = (0, 2).
5. Furnco manufactures desks and chairs. Each desk uses 4 units of wood, and each
chair uses 3. A desk contributes $40 to profit, and a chair contributes $25. Mar-
keting restrictions require that the number of chairs produced be at least twice the
number of desks produced. 20 units of wood are available.

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 Figure 3: Problem 4(c), Feasible Region and Optimal Solution

(a) Decision Variables:

x1 : number of desks produced (29)

x2 : number of chairs produced (30)

Objective function:
We want to maximize the profit.

max 40x1 + 25x2 (31)

Constraints:

4x1 + 3x2 20 (32)

x2 2x1 0 (33)
x1 , x2 0 (34)

This leads to the following LP:

max 40x1 + 25x2 (35)

s.t. 4x1 + 3x2 20 (36)
x2 2x1 0 (37)
x1 , x2 0 (38)

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(b) See Figure 4Problem 5. The optimal solution is at point (x1 , x2 ) = (2, 4)
and should be calculated by solving a system of linear equations:

4x1 + 3x2 = 20
x2 2x1 = 0

Figure 4: Problem 5, Feasible Region and Optimal Solution

(c) For the optimal solution (x1 , x2 ) = (2, 4), the binding constraint are 4x1 +
3x2 20 and x2 2x1 0, and the nonbinding constraints are x1 0 and
x2 0.
(d) If there are 30 units wood available, the optimal solution is (x1 , x2 ) = (3, 6),
and the binding constraint are 4x1 + 3x2 30 and is x2 2x1 0, and the
nonbinding constraints are x1 0 and x2 0.