Cesar Paredes

Homework 2
Administración de Operaciones
Tr.1 2018
1.) Under what condition is it possible for an LP problem to have more than one optimal solution?
Occurs when isoprofit/isocost curve runs parallel to one of the constraints

2.) Develop your own set of constraint equations and inequalities and use them to illustrate
graphically each of the following conditions:
a. an unbounded problem

b. an infeasible problem

c. a problem containing redundant constraints

3.) MSA Computer Corporation manufactures two models of minicomputers, the Alpha 4 and the
Beta 5. The firm employs five technicians, working 160 hours each per month, on its assembly
line. Management insists that full employment (i.e., all 160 hours of time) be maintained for each
worker during next month’s operations. It requires 20 labor hours to assemble each Alpha 4
computer and 25 labor hours to assemble each Beta 5 model. MSA wants to see at least 10 Alpha
4s and at least 15 Beta 5s produced during the production period. Alpha 4s generate $1,200 profit
per unit, and Beta 5s yield $1,800 each. Determine the most profitable number of each model of
minicomputer to produce during the coming month.
Cesar Paredes

Data Results
x1 x2 LHS Slack/Surplus
Maximize 1200 1800 sign RHS 55200
Constraint 1 20 25 = 800 800 0 Constraint 1
Constraint 2 1 > 10 10 0 Constraint 2
Constraint 3 1 > 15 24 -9 Constraint 3

Results
Variables 10 24
Objective 55200

4.) Consider this LP formulation:

Graphically illustrate the feasible region and apply the isocost line procedure to indicate which
corner point produces the optimal solution. What is the cost of this solution?

Data Results
x1 x2 LHS Slack/Surplus
Minimize 1 2 sign RHS 68,57143
Constraint 1 1 3 > 90 90 0 Constraint 1
Constraint 2 8 2 > 160 248,5714 -88,5714 Constraint 2
Constraint 3 3 2 > 120 120 0 Constraint 3
Constraint 4 1 < 70 21,42857 48,57143 Constraint 4

Results
Variables 25,71429 21,42857
Objective 68,57143
Cesar Paredes

5.) The stock brokerage firm of Blank, Leibowitz, and Weinberger has analyzed and recommended
two stocks to an investors’ club of college professors. The professors were interested in factors
such as short-term growth, intermediate growth, and dividend rates. These data on each stock are
as follows:

Each member of the club has an investment goal of (1) an appreciation of no less than $720 in the
short term, (2) an appreciation of at least $5,000 in the next three years, and (3) a dividend
income of at least $200 per year. What is the smallest investment that a professor can make to
meet these three goals?

Data Results
x1 x2 LHS Slack/Surplus
Minimize 1 1 sign RHS 3177,18
Constraint 1 0,36 0,24 > 72 925,6032 -853,603 Constraint 1
Constraint 2 1,67 1,5 > 5 4996,8 -4991,8 Constraint 2
Constraint 3 4% 8% > 20 199,8144 -179,814 Constraint 3

Results
Variables 1359 1818,18
Objective 3177,18
Cesar Paredes

6.) Graph the following LP problem and indicate the optimal solution point:

Data Results
x1 x2 LHS Slack/Surplus
Maximize 3 2 sign RHS 262,5
Constraint 1 2 1 < 150 150 0 Constraint 1
Constraint 2 2 3 < 300 300 0 Constraint 2

Results
Variables 37,5 75
Objective 262,5

a.) Does the optimal solution change if the profit per unit of X changes to $4.50?

Data
x1 x2
Maximize 4,5 2 sign RHS
Constraint 1 2 1 < 150
Constraint 2 2 3 < 300

Results
Variables 75 0
Objective 337,5
Cesar Paredes

b.) What happens if the profit function should have been $3𝑋 + $3𝑌?

Data
x1 x2
Maximize 3 3 sign RHS
Constraint 1 2 1 < 150
Constraint 2 2 3 < 300

Results
Variables 37,5 75
Objective 337,5

7.) Consider the following LP problem:

a.) What is the optimal solution to this problem? Solve it graphically.

x1 x2
Maximize 5 6 sign RHS
Constraint 1 2 1 < 120
Constraint 2 2 3 < 240

Results
Variables 30 60
Objective 510
Cesar Paredes

b.) If a technical breakthrough occurred that raised the profit per unit of X to $8, would this
affect the optimal solution?

x1 x2
Maximize 8 6 sign RHS
Constraint 1 2 1 < 120
Constraint 2 2 3 < 240

Results
Variables 30 60
Objective 600

c.) Instead of an increase in the profit coefficient X to $8, suppose that profit was overestimated
and should only have been $3. Does this change the optimal solution?

Data
x1 x2
Maximize 3 6 sign RHS
Constraint 1 2 1 < 120
Constraint 2 2 3 < 240

Results
Variables 0 80
Objective 480

8.) Modem Corporation of America (MCA) is the world’s largest producer of modem
communication devices for microcomputers. MCA sold 9,000 of the regular model and 10,400 of
the smart (“intelligent”) model this September. Its income statement for the month is shown in the
table on this page. Costs presented are typical of prior months and are expected to remain at the
same levels in the near future.
The firm is facing several constraints as it prepares its November production plan. First, it
has experienced a tremendous demand and has been unable to keep any significant inventory in
stock. This situation is not expected to change. Second, the firm is located in a small Iowa town
from which additional labor is not readily available. Workers can be shifted from production of
one modem to another, however. To produce the 9,000 regular modems in September required
5,000 direct labor hours. The 10,400 intelligent modems absorbed 10,400 direct labor hours.
Third, MCA is experiencing a problem affecting the intelligent modems model. Its
component supplier is able to guarantee only 8,000 microprocessors for November delivery. Each
intelligent modem requires one of these specially made microprocessors. Alternative suppliers are
not available on short notice.
MCA wants to plan the optimal mix of the two
modem models to produce in November to maximize
Cesar Paredes

profits for MCA.

9.) The Battery Park Stable feeds and houses the horses used to pull tourist-filled carriages through
the streets of Charleston’s historic waterfront area. The stable owner, an ex-racehorse trainer,
recognizes the need to set a nutritional diet for the horses in his care. At the same time, he would
like to keep the overall daily cost of feed to a minimum. The feed mixes available for the horses’
diet are an oat product, a highly enriched grain, and a mineral product. Each of these mixes
contains a certain amount of five ingredients needed daily to keep the average horse healthy. The
table on this page shows these minimum requirements, units of each ingredient per pound of feed
mix, and costs for the three mixes. In addition, the stable owner is aware that an overfed horse is a
sluggish worker. Consequently, he determines that 6 pounds of feed per day are the most that any
horse needs to function properly. Formulate this problem and solve for the optimal daily mix of
the three feeds.

x1 x2 x3
Minimize 0,09 0,14 0,17 sign RHS
Constraint 1 2 3 1 > 6
Constraint 2 0,5 1 0,5 > 2
Constraint 3 3 5 6 > 9
Constraint 4 1 1,5 2 > 8
Constraint 5 0,5 0,5 1,5 > 5
Constraint 6 1 1 1 < 6

Results
Variables 1,333333 0 3,333333
Objective 0,686667
Cesar Paredes

10.) South Central Utilities has just announced the August 1 opening of its second nuclear generator at
its Baton Rouge, Louisiana, nuclear power plant. Its personnel department has been directed to
determine how many nuclear technicians need to be hired and trained over the remainder of the
year. The plant currently employs 350 fully trained technicians and projects the following
personnel needs:

By Louisiana law, a reactor employee can actually work no more than 130 hours per month.
(Slightly over 1 hour per day is used for check-in and check-out, recordkeeping, and daily
radiation health scans.) Policy at South Central Utilities also dictates that layoffs are not
acceptable in those months when the nuclear plant is overstaffed. So, if more trained employees
are available than are needed in any month, each worker is still fully paid, even though he or she
is not required to work the 130 hours.
Training new employees is an important and costly procedure. It takes one month of one-
on-one classroom instruction before a new technician is permitted to work alone in the reactor
facility. Therefore, South Central must hire trainees one month before they are actually needed.
Each trainee teams up with a skilled nuclear technician and requires 90 hours of that employee’s
time, meaning that 90 hours less of the technician’s time are available that month for actual
reactor work.
Personnel department records indicate a turnover rate of trained technicians at 5% per
month. In other words, about 5% of the skilled employees at the start of any month resign by the
end of that month. A trained technician earns an average monthly salary of $2,000 (regardless of
the number of hours worked, as noted earlier). Trainees are paid $900 during their one month of
instruction.
a.) Formulate this staffing problem using LP.
b.) Solve the problem. How many trainees must begin each month?