Quantitative Methods Assignment
Quantitative Methods Assignment
2011
FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES
University of Delhi
Submitted by:
INDEX
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Problem Statement 3 Solution..4 Theory on the Problem Statement Snapshot of the Excel Solver Project Selection Solution References.
Problem Statement
Problem
An organization has a certain set of projects(project1.project5). Each project has a certain amount of cash outflow (expenditures) and cash inflow (revenue).The problem is, given the constraint budget allocation for few years, find the optimal solution for maximizing the profit given the Net Present Value(NPV) for each project. Any project may or may not be selected. The cumulative expenditure on all the selected projects by the company for the first year and second year should not be more than 40 crores and 25 crores respectively. Following table is the list of the projects with their respective NPVs and cash outflows in 2 years.
S.No.
PROJECT
1 2 3 4 5
Solution:
NPV
16
19
15
16
35
X1
X2
X3
X4
X5
CASH 1
15
45
10
12
20
CASH 2
10
14
12
25
Assumptions
The following assumptions are made:1. Linearity: - It is assumed that the affect of the decision variables will be linear on the constraints and objective function. Otherwise, the Excel Solver will not give the correct answers. 2. Certainty: - Values of parameters are known and certain even though they are likely to change over period of time. 3. Non-negativity: - Only non-negative values are acceptable. In our case, it is restricted to a. 0 or 1.
4. Negative values are not considered. For any project, the possibility of negative returns is ignored.
5. Values will remain constant. This might not be true since the values of revenues and costs vary with time. But considering a block of time frame, the values differ only slightly
Decision Variables
In our case, the decision variables will be whether the project has been selected or not. There are 5 projects which mean there are 5 decision variables. The decision variables are namely X1, X2, X3, X4 and X5.
Objective Function
The objective of the organization is to maximize the profit. Assuming revenue will be the same as the NPV, the objective function becomes Maximize Z = (NPVi * Xi) And Xi = 0 or 1
OBJECTIVE FUNCTION: MAX Z= 16X1 + 19 X2 + 15 x3 + 16 X4 + 35 X5
where i=1,2,3,4,5
Constraints
Weve been given maximum expenditure that can be invested overall in all the projects over the period of two years. The expenditures (cash outflows) are E1 and E2 for the first and second year respectively. The cash outflows for all the projects are known over the period. Let the cash outflow be Cij for year i and project j respectively. The row in the Excel is represented as CASH1 and CASH2 for the two years.
Slack Value refers to the value we get when the optimal solution is put into a less than or equal to equation and the resulting value is less than the right hand side constraint. The optimal solution should give slack because the constraint is to reduce the cost as much as possible. Using the Excel solver, we have also found out the slack values for each of the project. All the projects which have slack value as 0 are binding because the constraint restricts the possible changes of the point while any positive value is not binding.
References