Q1. Three food products are available at costs of Rs. 10, Rs. 36 and Rs.24 per unit,respectively.

They contain 1,000, 4,000 and 2,000 calories per unit, respectively and 200, 900 and 500
protein units per unit, respectively. It is required to find the minimum-cost diet containing at
least 20,000 calories and 3,000 units of protein. Formulate and solve the given problem as an
LP problem. Write the dual and use it to check the optimal solution of the given problem.

Q2. A diet conscious housewife wishes to ensure certain minimum intake of vitamins A, B and
C for the family. The minimum daily (quantity) needs of the vitamins A, B and C for the family
are respectively 30, 20 and 16 units. For the supply of these minimum vitamin requirements,
the housewife relies on two fresh food I and gram, respectively and the second one provides 2,
4 and 8 units of the same three vitamins per gram of the foodstuff, respectively. The first
foodstuff costs Rs. 3 per gram and the second Rs. 2 per gram. The problem is how many grams
of each foodstuff should the housewife buy everyday to keep her food bill as low as possible?
(a) Formulate this problem as an LP model.
(b) Write and then solve the dual problem.

Q3. A medical scientist claims to have found a cure for the common cold that consists of
three drugs called K, S and H. His results indicate that the minimum daily adult dosage for
effective treatment is 10 mg of drug K, 6 mg of drug S and 8 mg of drug H. Two substances
are readily available for preparing pills for distribution to cold sufferers. Both substances
contain all three of the required drugs. Each unit of substance A contains 6 mg, 1 mg and 2
mg of drugs K, S and H, respectively and each unit of substance B contains 2 mg, 3 mg and 2
mg of the same drugs. Substance A costs Rs. 3 per unit and substance B costs Rs. 5 per unit.
(a) Find the least-cost combination of the two substances that will yield a pill designed to
contain the minimum daily recommended adult dosage.
(b) Suppose that the costs of the two substances are interchanged so that substance A costs
Rs. 5 per unit and substance B costs Rs. 3 per unit. Find the new optimal solution.

Q4. A person consumes two types of food A and B everyday to obtain 8 units of proteins, 12
units of carbohydrates and 9 units of fats which is his daily minimum requirements. 1 kg of
food A contains 2, 6 and 1 units of protein, carbohydrates and fats, respectively. 1 kg of food
B contains 1, 1 and 3 units of proteins, carbohydrates and fats respectively. Food A costs Rs.
8.50 per kg, while B costs Rs. 4 per kg. Determine how many kg of each food should he buy
daily to minimize his cost of food and still meet the minimum requirements.
Formulate on LP problem mathematically. Write its dual and solve the dual by the simplex
method

Q5 A firm uses three machines in the manufacture of three products. Each unit of product I
requires 3 hours on machine 1, 2 hours on machine 2 and 1 hour on machine 3. Each unit of
product II requires 4 hours on machine 1, 1 hour on machine 2 and 3 hours on machine 3.
Each unit of product III requires 2 hours on machine 1, 2 hours on machine 2, and 2 hours on
machine 3. The contribution margin of the three products is Rs. 30, Rs. 40 and Rs. 35 per
unit, respectively. Available for scheduling are 90 hours of machine 1 time, 54 hours of
machine 2 time, and 93 hours of machine 3 time.
(a) What is the optimal production schedule for the firm?
(b) What is the marginal value of an additional hour of time on machine?
(c) What is the opportunity cost associated with product 1? What interpretation should be
given to this opportunity cost?
(d) Suppose that the contribution margin for product I is increased from Rs. 30 to Rs. 43,
would this change the optimal production plan? Give reasons.

Q6. A company sells two different products A and B. The selling price and incremental cost
information is as follows:
Product A Product B
Selling price (Rs.) 60 40
Incremental cost (Rs.) 30 10
Incremental profit (Rs.) 30 30
The two products are produced in a common production process and are sold in two different
markets. The production process has a capacity of 30,000 labour hours. It takes three hours to
produce a unit of A and one hour to produce a unit of B. The market has been surveyed and
company officials feel that the maximum number of units of A that can be sold is 8,000; and
that of B is 12,000 units.
(a) Find the optimal product mix.
(b) Suppose maximum number of units of A and B that can be sold is actually 9,000 units and
13,000 units, respectively instead of as given in the problem, what effect does this have
on the solution? What is the effect on the profit? What is the shadow price for the constraint
on the sales limit for both these products.
(c) Suppose there are 31,000 labour hours available instead of 30,000 as in the base case,
what effect does this have on the solution? What is the effect on the profit? What is the
shadow price for the constraint on the number of labour hours.

Q7 A company makes two products A and B. The production of both products requires
processing time in two departments I and II. The hourly capacity of I and II, unit profits for
products: A and B and the processing time requirements in I and II are given in the following
table:
Department Product Capacity
A B (Hours)
I 1 2 32
II 0 1 8
Unit profit (Rs.) 200 300
Now the company is considering the addition of a new product C to its line. Product C requires
one hour each of departments I and II. What must be product C’s unit profit in order to
profitably add it to the firm’s product line?
Q8. The production of the component requires utilization of sheet metal working and painting
facilities, the details of which are given below.
Resource Consumption (in hrs) to Availability
Produce a Unit for (hrs)
Passenger Car Jeep Truck
Sheet metal
working 0.25 1 0.5 12
Painting 0.5 1 2 30
The profits that can be earned by the three categories of components, i.e. for passenger cars,
jeeps and trucks are Rs. 600, Rs. 1,400, and Rs. 1,300, respectively.
(a) Find the optimal product mix for that organization.
(b) What additional profit would be earned by increasing the availability of (i) Sheet metal
working shop by an hour only, and (ii) Painting shop by an hour only.
(c) What would be the effect on the profit earned if at least one component for jeep had to be
produced?
Q9. The XYZ Plastic Company has just received a government contract to produce three
different plastic valves. These valves must be highly heat and pressure resistant and the
company has developed a three-stage production process that will provide the valves with the
necessary properties involving work in three different chambers. Chamber 1 provides the
necessary pressure resistance and can process valves for 1,200 minutes each week. Chamber
2 provides heat resistance and can process valves for 900 minutes per week. Chamber 3 tests
the valves and can work 1,300 minutes per week. The three valve types and the time in
minutes required in each chamber are:
Time Required in
Valve Type
Chamber 1 Chamber 2 Chamber 3
A 5 7 4
B 3 2 10
C 2 4 5
The government will buy all the valves that can be produced and the company will receive
the following profit margins on each valve:
A, Rs. 15; B, Rs. 13.50; and C, Rs. 10.
How many valves of each type should the company produce each week in order to maximize
profits? Write the dual of the given LP problem and give its economic interpretation?
Q10. One unit of product A contributes Rs. 7 and requires 3 units of raw material and 2 hours
of labour. One unit of product B contributes Rs. 5 and requires one unit of raw material and
one hour of labour. Availability of raw material at present is 48 units and there are 40
hours of labour.
(a) Formulate this problem as a linear programming problem.
(b) Write its dual.
(c) Solve the dual by the simplex method and find the optimal product mix and the shadow
prices of the raw material and labour.