Session 4

LINEAR PROGRAMMING

Pre University-Mathematics for Business

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Learning Objectives
represent geometrically a linear inequality in two
variables.
state a linear programming problem and solve it
geometrically.
consider situations in which a linear
programming problem exists.

Introduction
Linear programming is constrained
optimization, where the constraints and
the objective function are all linear.
It is called "programming" because the
goal of the calculations help you choose a
"program" of action.

Examples of LP Problems (1)

1. A Product Mix Problem
A manufacturer has fixed amounts of different resources
such as raw material, labor, and equipment.
These resources can be combined to produce any one of
several different products.
The quantity of the ith resource required to produce one unit
of the jth product is known.
The decision maker wishes to produce the combination of
products that will maximize total income.
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Examples of LP Problems (2)

2. A Blending Problem
Blending problems refer to situations in which a number of
components (or commodities) are mixed together to yield
one or more products.
Typically, different commodities are to be purchased. Each
commodity has known characteristics and costs.
The problem is to determine how much of each commodity
should be purchased and blended with the rest so that the
characteristics of the mixture lie within specified bounds
and the total cost is minimized.
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Examples of LP Problems (3)

3. A Production Scheduling Problem
A manufacturer knows that he must supply a given number
of items of a certain product each month for the next n
months.
They can be produced either in regular time, subject to a
maximum each month, or in overtime. The cost of
producing an item during overtime is greater than during
regular time. A storage cost is associated with each item
not sold at the end of the month.
The problem is to determine the production schedule that
minimizes the sum of production and storage costs.
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Examples of LP Problems (4)

4. A Transportation Problem
A product is to be shipped in the amounts al, a2, ..., am from m
shipping origins and received in amounts bl, b2, ..., bn at each
of n shipping destinations.
The cost of shipping a unit from the ith origin to the jth
destination is known for all combinations of origins and
destinations.
The problem is to determine the amount to be shipped from
each origin to each destination such that the total cost of
transportation is a minimum.
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Examples of LP Problems (5)

5. A Flow Capacity Problem
One or more commodities (e.g., traffic, water, information,
cash, etc.) are flowing from one point to another through a
network whose branches have various constraints and flow
capacities.
The direction of flow in each branch and the capacity of
each branch are known.
The problem is to determine the maximum flow, or capacity
of the network.

Introduction
A linear function in x and y has the form

Z ax by
The function to be maximized or minimized is
called the objective function.

Start with
A manufacturer makes wooden desks (X)
and tables (Y). Each desk requires 2.5
hours to assemble, 3 hours for buffing,
and 1 hour to crate. Each table requires 1
hour to assemble, 3 hours to buff, and 2
hours to crate. The firm can do only up to
20 hours of assembling, 30 hours of
buffing, and 16 hours of crating per week.
Profit is $3 per desk and $4 per table.
Maximize the profit.
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The linear programming model, for a

manufacturing problem, involves:
Processes or activities that can be done in
different amounts

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 Constraints resource limits

The constraints describe the production process
how much output you get for any given amounts of
the inputs.
The constraints say that you cannot use more of each
resource than you have of that resource.
Linear constraints means no diminishing or increasing
returns. Adding more input gives the same effect on
output regardless of how much you are already
making.
Non-negativity constraints the process levels cannot
be less than 0. This means that you cannot turn your
products back into resources.
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 Objective function -- to be maximized or

minimized
A linear objective function means that you can
sell all you want of your outputs without
affecting the price.

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Solution
The objective function is Profit =
3x + 4y
x is the number of desks
y is the number of tables

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Solution
Constraints:
assembling

2.5x + y 20

buffing

3x + 3y 30

crating

x + 2y 16

non-negativity

x ,y 0
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Solution
The optimum is
at x=4, y=6,
profit=36

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Example 2
Maximize the objective function Z = 3x + y subject to the
constraints

2x y 8
2 x 3 y 12
x0
y 0
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Solution:
The feasible region is nonempty and
bounded.
Evaluating Z at these points, we
obtain
Z A 3 0 0 0

Z B 3 4 0 12
Z C 3 3 2 11
Z D 3 0 4 4

The maximum value of Z occurs when x = 4 and y = 0.

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Example 3
Example: Product Mix Problem
The N. Dustrious Company produces two products: I and II. The raw
material requirements, space needed for storage, production rates, and
selling prices for these products are given in Table 1.

The total amount of raw material available per day for both products is
15751b. The total storage space for all products is 1500 ft2, and a
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maximum of 7 hours per day can be used for production.

Example 3
All products manufactured are shipped out of the storage
area at the end of the day. Therefore, the two products must
share the total raw material, storage space, and production
time. The company wants to determine how many units of
each product to produce per day to maximize its total
income.
Solution
The company has decided that it wants to maximize its sale income,
which depends on the number of units of product I and II that it
produces.
Therefore, the decision variables, x1 and x2 can be the number of units
of products I and II, respectively, produced per day.
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Example 3
The object is to maximize the equation:
Z = 13x1 + 11x2
subject to the constraints on storage space, raw materials,
and production time.
Each unit of product I requires 4 ft2 of storage space and
each unit of product II requires 5 ft2. Thus a total of 4x1 +
5x2 ft2 of storage space is needed each day. This space
must be less than or equal to the available storage space,
which is 1500 ft2. Therefore,
4X1 + 5X2 1500
Similarly, each unit of product I and II produced requires 5
and 3 1bs, respectively, of raw material. Hence a total of 5x l
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+ 3x2 Ibs of raw material is used.

 This must be less than or equal to the total amount of raw

material available, which is 1575 Ib. Therefore,
5x1 + 3x2 1575
Product I can be produced at the rate of 60 units per hour.
Therefore, it must take I minute or 1/60 of an hour to
produce I unit. Similarly, it requires 1/30 of an hour to
produce 1 unit of product II. Hence a total of x1/60 + x2/30
hours is required for the daily production. This quantity
must be less than or equal to the total production time
available each day. Therefore,
x1 / 60 + x2 / 30 7
or x1 + 2x2 420
Finally, the company cannot produce a negative quantity of
any product, therefore x1 and x2 must each be greater than
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or equal to zero.

 The linear programming model for this example can be

summarized as:

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Graphical Solution to LP Problems

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Graphical Solution to LP Problems

An equation of the form 4x1 + 5x2 = 1500 defines a straight
line in the x1-x2 plane. An inequality defines an area
bounded by a straight line. Therefore, the region below and
including the line 4x1 + 5x2 = 1500 in the Figure represents
the region defined by 4x1 + 5x2 1500.
Same thing applies to other equations as well.
The shaded area of the figure comprises the area common
to all the regions defined by the constraints and contains all
pairs of xI and x2 that are feasible solutions to the problem.

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Graphical Solution to LP Problems

This area is known as the feasible region or feasible
solution space. The optimal solution must lie within this
region.
There are various pairs of x1 and x2 that satisfy the
constraints such as:

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Graphical Solution to LP Problems

Trying different solutions, the optimal solution will be:
X1 = 270
X2 = 75
This indicates that maximum income of $4335 is obtained by
producing 270 units of product I and 75 units of product II.
In this solution, all the raw material and available time are used,
because the optimal point lies on the two constraint lines for
these resources.
However, 1500- [4(270) + 5(75)], or 45 ft2 of storage space, is
not used. Thus the storage space is not a constraint on the
optimal solution; that is, more products could be produced
before the company ran out of storage space. Thus this
constraint is said to be slack.
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Graphical Solution to LP Problems

If the objective function happens to be parallel to one of the
edges of the feasible region, any point along this edge
between the two extreme points may be an optimal
solution that maximizes the objective function. When this
occurs, there is no unique solution, but there is an infinite
number of optimal solutions.
The graphical method of solution may be extended to a
case in which there are three variables. In this case, each
constraint is represented by a plane in three dimensions,
and the feasible region bounded by these planes is a
polyhedron.
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