Optimizing

Optimizing an Advertising Campaign
Math 1010 Intermediate Algebra Project
The Problem:
In this project you will solve the following situation:
A local business plans on advertising their new product by purchasing advertisements on the
radio and on TV. The business plans to purchase at least 80 total ads and they want to have at
least three times as many radio ads as TV ads. Radio ads cost $70 each and TV ads cost $150
each. The advertising budget is $10,080. It is estimated that each radio ad will be heard by 1500
listeners and each TV ad will be seen by 3500 people. How many of each type of ad should be
purchased to maximize the number of people who will be reached by the advertisements?
Modeling the Problem:

Let X be the number of radio ads that are purchased and Y be the number of TV ads.
1. Write down a linear inequality for the total number of desired ads.
x + y 80
2. Write down a linear inequality for the cost of the ads.

70x+150y 10080
3. Recall that the business wants at least three times as many radio ads (X) as TV ads (Y).
So, the number of radio ads should be at least (or more) than 3 times the number of TV ads.
Write down a linear inequality that expresses this fact. Be careful! It is easy to write this
one backwards.
x 3y
4. There are two more constraints that must be met. These relate to the fact that there
cannot be negative numbers of advertisements. Write the two inequalities that model these
constraints:
x 0, y 0
5a. Next, write down the function for the number of people that will be exposed to the
advertisements. This is the Objective Function for the problem.
p = 1500x + 3500y
5b. You now have five linear inequalities and an objective function. These together
describe the situation. This combined set of inequalities and objective function make up
what is known mathematically as a linear programming problem. Write all of the
inequalities and the objective function together below. This is typically written as a list of
constraints, with the objective function last.
x + y 80 ; number of desired ads.
70x + 150y 10080 ; maximum cost of ads.
x 3y ; there should be at least 3 times as many radio ads than TV ads.
x 0, y 0 ; advertisements cannot be negative.
p = 1500x + 3500y ; objective function.
6. To solve this problem, you will need to graph the intersection of all five inequalities on
one common XY plane. Do this on the grid below (or for extra credit use
www.desmos.com. Make sure you scale your graph appropriately. Youll want to export
your graph as an image.). Have the bottom left be the origin, with the horizontal axis
representing X and the vertical axis representing Y. Label the axes with what they represent
and label your lines as you graph them.
7. The shaded region in the above graph is called the feasible region. Any (x, y) point in
the region corresponds to a possible number of radio and TV ads that will meet all the
requirements of the problem. However, the values that will maximize the number of
people exposed to the ads will occur at one of the vertices or corners of the region. Your
region should have four corners. Find the coordinates of these corners by solving the
appropriate system of linear equations. Be sure to show your work and label the (x, y)
coordinates of the corners in your graph.
A. (84, 28)
x = 3y, 70x + 150y = 10080
70(3y) + 150y = 10080
210y + 150y = 10080
360y = 10080
y = 28
x = 3(28)
x = 84
B . (60, 20)
x + y = 80, x = 3y
3y + y = 80
4y = 80
y = 20
x + 20 = 80
x = 60
C . (80, 0)
x + y = 80, y 0
x = 80
y=0
D. (144, 0)
70x + 150y = 10080, x =/ 0 because x 3y
70x + 150(0) = 10080
70x = 10080
x = 144
y=0
8. To find which number of radio and TV ads will maximize the number of people who are
exposed to the business advertisements, evaluate the objective function P for each of the
vertices you found. Show your work.
(144, 0)
p = 1500(144) + 3500(0)
p = 216, 000
(60, 20)
p = 1500(60) + 3500(20)
p = 160, 000
(84, 28)
p = 1500(84) + 3500(28)
p = 224, 000
(80, 0)
p = 1500(80) + 3500(0)
p = 120, 000
9. Write a sentence describing how many of each type of advertisement should be

purchased and what is the maximum number of people who will be exposed to the ad.
The company should purchase 84 radio ads, and 28 TV ads because it will remain within
the $10080.00 budget while reaching the maximum of 224,000 people.

Optimizing

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Optimizing

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Optimizing

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Optimizing an Advertising Campaign

Math 1010 Intermediate Algebra Project

Modeling the Problem:

2. Write down a linear inequality for the cost of the ads.

9. Write a sentence describing how many of each type of advertisement should be

You might also like