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3 – Linear Programming Word Problems

Steps to Solving Linear Programming Word Problems:

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1. Yum’s Bakery bakes two breads, A and B. One batch of A uses 5 pounds of oats
and 3 pounds of flour. One batch of B uses 2 pounds of oats and 3 pounds of flour.
The company has 180 pounds of oats and 135 pounds of flour available. Yum’s
Bakery wants to maximize its profits from bread sales. One batch of A yields a
profit of $40. One batch of B yields a profit of $30. Find how many batches of each
bread the bakery should bake.

a. Define Variables. A B Total

Oats
Flour

b. Write the Objective Function. c. Write inequalities for constraints.

d. Graph

e. Find vertices and plug into objective function.

2. A merchant plans to sell two models of an item at costs of $350 and $400. The $350 model
yields a profit of $85 and the $400 model yields a profit of $90. The total demand per month
for the two models will not exceed 150. Find the number of units of each model that should be
stocked each month in order to maximize the profit. Assume the merchant can invest no more
than $56,000 for inventory of these items.

a. Define Variables.

b. Write the Objective Function. c. Write inequalities for constraints.

d. Graph

e. Find vertices and plug into objective

function.
3. You are making fruit baskets with oranges, bananas, and apples. The table gives the amount
of fruit required for the two arrangements. Each day you have 240 oranges, 270 bananas and
320 apples. Arrangement A earns a profit of $10 per basket and Arrangement B earns $8 per
basket. How many of each fruit basket should you make per day to maximize your profit?

a. Define Variables. Fruit Arrangement A Arrangement B Total

Oranges
Bananas
Apples

b. Write the Objective Function. c. Write inequalities for constraints.

d. Graph

e. Find vertices and plug into objective

function.
4. Sue manages a soccer club and must decide how many members to send to
soccer camp. It costs $75 for each advanced player and $50 for each intermediate
player. Sue can spend no more than $13,250. Sue must send at least 60 more
advanced than intermediate players and a minimum of 80 advanced players. Find
the number of each type of player Sue can send to camp to maximize the number
of players at camp.

a. Define Variables.

b. Write the Objective Function. c. Write inequalities for constraints.

d. Graph

e. Find vertices and plug into

objective function.
5. A company produces two models of calculators at two different plants. In one day Plant A
can produce 140 of Model 1 and 35 of Model 2. In one day Plant B can produce 60 of Model 1
and 90 of Model 2. If the company needs to produce at least 460 Model 1 and 340 of Model 2,
find the minimum cost. Assume it costs $1200 per day to operate Plant A and $900 per day for
Plant B.

a. Define Variables.

b. Write the Objective Function. c. Write inequalities for constraints.

d. Graph

e. Find vertices and plug into

objective function.
6. A manufacturer of tennis rackets makes a profit of $15 on each oversized racket and $8 on
each standard racket. To meet dealer demand, daily production of standard rackets should be
between 30 and 80, and production of oversized rackets should be between 10 and 30. To
maintain high quality, the total number of rackets produced should not exceed 80 per day.
How many of each type should be manufactured daily to maximize profit?

a. Define Variables.

b. Write the Objective Function. c. Write inequalities for constraints.

d. Graph

e. Find vertices and plug into

objective function.