1. A transport company has two types of trucks, Type A and Type B.

Type A

has a refrigerated capacity of 20 m 3  and a non-refrigerated capacity of 40

m 3  while Type B has the same overall volume with equal sections for

refrigerated and non-refrigerated stock. A grocer needs to hire trucks for

the transport of 3,000 m 3  of refrigerated stock and 4,000 m 3  of non-

refrigerated stock. The cost per kilometer of a Type A is $30, and $40 for

Type B. How many trucks of each type should the grocer rent to achieve the

minimum total cost?

1 Choose the unknowns.

x = Type A trucks

y = Type B trucks

2 Write the  objective function .

f(x,y)=Z = 30x + 40y

3 Write the constraints  as a system of inequalities .

  A B Total

Refrigerated 20 30 3 000

Non-refrigerated 40 30 4 000

20x + 30y ≥ 3 000

40x + 30y ≥ 4 000

 x ≥ 0

y ≥ 0

4  Find the set of feasible solutions  that graphically represent

the constraints.

5  Calculate the coordinates of the  vertices from the compound of

feasible solutions.
 6  Calculate the  value of the objective function at each of the

vertices to determine which of them has the maximum or minimum values.

f(0, 400/3) = 30  · 0 + 40 · 400/3 = 5,333.332

f(150, 0) = 30 · 150 + 40 · 0 = 4,500

As x and y must be natural numbers round the value of y.

f(50, 67) = 30 · 50 + 40 ·67 = 4,180   Minimum

The minimum cost is $4,180. To achieve this 50 trucks of Type A and

67 trucks of Type B are needed.

 2. A school is preparing a trip for 400 students. The company who is providing

the transportation has 10 buses of 50 seats each and 8 buses of 40 seats,

but only has 9 drivers available. The rental cost for a large bus is $800 and

$600 for the small bus. Calculate how many buses of each type should be

used for the trip for the least possible cost.

1 Choose the unknowns.

x = small buses

y = big buses

2 Write the  objective function .

f(x, y) = 600x + 800y

3 Write the constraints  as a system of inequalities .

40x + 50y ≥ 400

x + y ≤ 9

x ≥ 0

y ≥ 0

4  Find the set of feasible solutions  that graphically represent

the constraints.
 5  Calculate the coordinates of the  vertices from the compound of
feasible solutions.

6  Calculate the  value of the objective function at each of the

vertices to determine which of them has the maximum or minimum values.

f(0, 8) = 600  · 0 + 800 · 8 = $6,400

 f(0, 9) = 600  · 0 + 800 · 9 = $7,200

f(5, 4) = 6 00 · 5 + 800 · 4 = $6,200 €    Minimum

The minimum cost is  $6,200. This is acheived with  4 large and 5 small

buses.

3. A store wants to liquidate 200 of its shirts and 100 pairs of pants from last

season. They have decided to put together two offers, A and B. Offer A is a

package of one shirt and a pair of pants which will sell for $30. Offer B is a

package of three shirts and a pair of pants, which will sell for $50. The

store does not want to sell less than 20 packages of Offer A and less than

10 of Offer B. How many packages of each do they have to sell to maximize

the money generated from the promotion?

1 Choose the unknowns.

x = number of packages of Offer A

y = number of packages of Offer B

2 Write the  objective function .

f(x, y) = 30x + 50y

3 Write the constraints  as a system of inequalities .

  Mi

ni

m
 al

h 2

ir 0

t 0

a 1

n 0

t 0

x + 3y ≤ 200

x + y ≤ 100

x ≥ 20

 y ≥ 10

4  Find the set of feasible solutions  that graphically represent

the constraints.
 5  Calculate the coordinates of the  vertices from the compound of
feasible solutions.

6  Calculate the  value of the objective function at each of the

vertices to determine which of them has the maximum or minimum values.

f(x, y) = 30 · 20 + 50 · 10 = $1,100

f(x, y) = 30 · 90 + 50 · 10 = $3,200

 f(x, y) = 30 · 20 + 50 · 60 = $3,600

f(x, y) = 30 · 50 + 50 · 50 = $4,000    Maximum

50 packages  of each offer generates a maximum amount of  $4,000 in

sales.