MANAGEMENT SCIENCE

Midyear AY 2020-2021
 Linear Programming

 Introduction Linear programming is a widely used mathematical modeling technique to determine the optimum
allocation of scarce resources among competing demands. Resources typically include raw materials, manpower,
machinery, time, money and space.
 The technique is very powerful and found especially useful because of its application to many different types of
real business problems in areas like finance, production, sales and distribution, personnel, marketing and many
more areas of management.
 As its name implies, the linear programming model consists of linear objectives and linear constraints, which
means that the variables in a model have a proportionate relationship. For example, an increase in manpower
resource will result in an increase in work output
 For a given problem situation, there are certain essential conditions that need to be solved by using linear
ESSENTIALS OF LINEAR PROGRAMMING MODEL
programming.
 1. Limited resources : limited number of labour, material equipment and finance
 2. Objective : refers to the aim to optimize (maximize the profits or minimize the costs).
 3. Linearity : increase in labour input will have a proportionate increase in output.
 4. Homogeneity : the products, workers' efficiency, and machines are assumed to be identical.
 5. Divisibility : it is assumed that resources and products can be divided into fractions. (in case the fractions
are not possible, like production of one-third of a computer, a modification of linear programming called
integer programming can be used)
PROPERTIES OF LINEAR PROGRAMMING MODEL

The following properties form the linear programming model:

 1. Relationship among decision variables must be linear in
nature.
 2. A model must have an objective function.
 3. Resource constraints are essential.
 4. A model must have a non-negativity constraint.
FORMULATION OF LINEAR PROGRAMMING
Formulation of linear programming is the representation of problem situation in a mathematical
form. It involves well defined decision variables, with an objective function and set of constraints.
 Objective function:
The objective of the problem is identified and converted into a suitable objective function. The
objective function represents the aim or goal of the system (i.e., decision variables) which has to be
determined from the problem. Generally, the objective in most cases will be either to maximize
resources or profits or, to minimize the cost or time.
 Constraints:
When the availability of resources are in surplus, there will be no problem in making decisions.
But in real life, organizations normally have scarce resources within which the job has to be
performed in the most effective way. Therefore, problem situations are within confined limits in
which the optimal solution to the problem must be found.
 Non-negativity constraint
Negative values of physical quantities are impossible, like producing negative number of chairs,
tables, etc., so it is necessary to include the element of non-negativity as a constraint
GENERAL LINEAR PROGRAMMING MODEL
 A general representation of LP model is given as follows:
 Maximize or Minimize, Z = p1 x1 + p2 x2 ………………pn xn
 Subject to constraints,
w11 x1 + w12 x2 + ………………w1n xn ≤ or = or ≥ w1 ……………(i)
w21 x1 + w22 x2 ………………w2n xn ≤ or = or ≥ w2 …………… (ii)
....
....
....
wm1 x1 + wm2 x2 +………………wmn xn ≤ or = ≥ wm …………(iii)
 Non-negativity constraint,
xi ≥ o (where i = 1,2,3 …..n)
Example
A company manufactures two types of boxes, corrugated and ordinary cartons.
The boxes undergo two major processes: cutting and pinning operations.
The profits per unit are Ps. 6 and Ps. 4 respectively.
Each corrugated box requires 2 minutes for cutting and 3 minutes for pinning operation,
whereas each carton box requires 2 minutes for cutting and 1 minute for pinning.
The available operating time is 120 minutes and 60 minutes for cutting and pinning machines.
The manager has to determine the optimum quantities to be manufacture the two boxes to
maximize the profits.
 Solution
Decision variables completely describe the decisions to be made (in this case, by Manager). Manager must decide
how many corrugated and ordinary cartons should be manufactured each week. With this in mind, he has to define:
xl be the number of corrugated boxes to be manufactured.
x2 be the number of carton boxes to be manufactured
Objective function is the function of the decision variables that the decision maker wants to maximize (revenue or
profit) or minimize (costs). Manager can concentrate on maximizing the total weekly profit (z). Here profit equals to
(weekly revenues) – (raw material purchase cost) – (other variable costs). Hence Manager’s objective function is:
Maximize z = 6X2 + 4x2
Constraints show the restrictions on the values of the decision variables. Without constraints manager could make a
large profit by choosing decision variables to be very large. Here there are three constraints:
Available machine-hours for each machine
Time consumed by each product
Sign restrictions are added if the decision variables can only assume nonnegative values (Manager can not use
negative number machine and time never negative number )
All these characteristics explored above give the following Linear
Programming (LP) problem

max z = 6x1 + 4x2 (The Objective function)

s.t. 2x1 + 3x2 ≤ 120 (cutting time constraint)
2x1 + x2  ≤ 60 (pinning constraint)
x1 , x2 ≥ 0 (Sign restrictions)

A value of (x1 ,x2 ) is in the feasible region if it satisfies all the constraints and sign restrictions.
This type of linear programming can be solve by two methods
1) Graphical method
2) Simplex algorithm method
 Graphic Method
 Step 1: Convert the inequality constraint as equations and find co-ordinates of the line.
 Step 2: Plot the lines on the graph.
 (Note: If the constraint is ≥ type, then the solution zone lies away from the centre. If the constraint is ≤ type, then
solution zone is towards the centre.)
 Step 3: Obtain the feasible zone.
 Step 4: Find the co-ordinates of the objectives function (profit line) and plot it on the graph representing
it with a dotted line.
 Step 5: Locate the solution point.
 (Note: If the given problem is maximization, zmax then locate the solution point at the far most point of the
feasible zone from the origin and if minimization, Zmin then locate the solution at the shortest point of the
solution zone from the origin).
 Step 6: Solution type
 i. If the solution point is a single point on the line, take the corresponding values of x1 and x2.
 ii. If the solution point lies at the intersection of two equations, then solve for x1 and x2 using the
two equations.
 iii. If the solution appears as a small line, then a multiple solution exists.
 iv. If the solution has no confined boundary, the solution is said to be an unbound solution
CONT…