Mathematical models for decision making

Training for the midterm

The following problems are taken from Winston (2004), chapter 3:

3.1.A1 Truckco manufactures two types of trucks: 1 and 2. Each truck must go through the painting shop
and assembly shop. If the painting shop were completely devoted to painting Type 1 trucks, then 800 per
day could be painted; if the painting shop were completely devoted to painting Type 2 trucks, then 700
per day could be painted. If the assembly shop were completely devoted to assembling truck 1 engines,
then 1,500 per day could be assembled; if the assembly shop were completely devoted to assembling
truck 2 engines, then 1,200 per day could be assembled. Each Type 1 truck contributes $300 to profit;
each Type 2 truck contributes $500. Formulate an LP that will maximize Truckco’s profit.

3.1.B5 Why don’t we allow an LP to have > or < constraints?

3.4.A1 There are three factories on the Momiss River (1, 2, and 3). Each emits two types of pollutants (1
and 2) into the river. If the waste from each factory is processed, the pollution in the river can be reduced.
It costs $15 to process a ton of factory 1 waste, and each ton processed reduces the amount of pollutant
1 by 0.10 ton and the amount of pollutant 2 by 0.45 ton. It costs $10 to process a ton of factory 2 waste,
and each ton processed will reduce the amount of pollutant 1 by 0.20 ton and the amount of pollutant 2
by 0.25 ton. It costs $20 to process a ton of factory 3 waste, and each ton processed will reduce the
amount of pollutant 1 by 0.40 ton and the amount of pollutant 2 by 0.30 ton. The state wants to reduce
the amount of pollutant 1 in the river by at least 30 tons and the amount of pollutant 2 in the river by at
least 40 tons. Formulate an LP that will minimize the cost of reducing pollution by the desired amounts.
Do you think that the LP assumptions (Proportionality, Additivity, Divisibility, and Certainty) are
reasonable for this problem?

3.5.B6 During each 6-hour period of the day, the Bloomington Police Department needs at least the
number of policemen shown in Table 5.

Table 1. Table 3.5 taken from Winston (2004)

Policemen can be hired to work either 12 consecutive hours or 18 consecutive hours. Policemen are paid
$4 per hour for each of the first 12 hours a day they work and are paid $6 per hour for each of the next 6
hours they work in a day. Formulate an LP that can be used to minimize the cost of meeting Bloomington’s
daily police requirements.

3.6.A4 A company has nine projects under consideration. The NPV added by each project and the capital
required by each project during the next two years is given in Table 9.

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 Table 2. Table 3.9 taken from Winston (2004)

All figures are in millions. For example, Project 1 will add $14 million in NPV and require expenditures of
$12 million during year 1 and $3 million during year 2. Fifty million is available for projects during year 1
and $20 million is available during year 2. Assuming we may undertake a fraction of each project, how can
we maximize NPV?

3.8.A1 You have decided to enter the candy business. You are considering producing two types of candies:
Slugger Candy and Easy Out Candy, both of which consist solely of sugar, nuts, and chocolate. At present,
you have in stock 100 oz of sugar, 20 oz of nuts, and 30 oz of chocolate. The mixture used to make Easy
Out Candy must contain at least 20% nuts. The mixture used to make Slugger Candy must contain at least
10% nuts and 10% chocolate. Each ounce of Easy Out Candy can be sold for 25¢, and each ounce of Slugger
Candy for 20¢. Formulate an LP that will enable you to maximize your revenue from candy sales.

3.9.A1 Sunco Oil has three different processes that can be used to manufacture various types of gasoline.
Each process involves blending oils in the company’s catalytic cracker. Running process 1 for an hour costs
$5 and requires 2 barrels of crude oil 1 and 3 barrels of crude oil 2. The output from running process 1 for
an hour is 2 barrels of gas 1 and 1 barrel of gas 2. Running process 2 for an hour costs $4 and requires 1
barrel of crude 1 and 3 barrels of crude 2. The output from running process 2 for an hour is 3 barrels of
gas 2. Running process 3 for an hour costs $1 and requires 2 barrels of crude 2 and 3 barrels of gas 2. The
output from running process 3 for an hour is 2 barrels of gas 3. Each week, 200 barrels of crude 1, at
$2/barrel, and 300 barrels of crude 2, at $3/barrel, may be purchased. All gas produced can be sold at the
following per-barrel prices: gas 1, $9; gas 2, $10; gas 3, $24. Formulate an LP whose solution will maximize
revenues less costs. Assume that only 100 hours of time on the catalytic cracker are available each week.

References

Winston W.L. (2004) Operations Research: Applications and Algorithms. US: Thomson Learning. 4th
edition. ISBN: 0534423620