Operations Research

Section Sheet No. 2

Problem No. 1:
Kathy Smith, campus dietician for a small college, is responsible for formulating a nutritious meal
plan for students. For an evening meal, she feels that the following five meal-content requirements
should be met: (1) between 900 and 1,500 calories; (2) at least 4 milligrams of iron; (3) no more than
50 grams of fat; (4) at least 26 grams of protein; and (5) no more than 50 grams of carbohydrates. On
a particular day, Smith's food stock includes six items that can be prepared and served for supper to
meet these requirements. The cost per pound for each food item and its contribution to each of the five
nutritional requirements are given in the accompanying table. Formulate an LP problem to determine
the combinations and amounts of food items will provide the nutrition Smith requires at the least total
food cost?
Food item
Milk
Ground meat
Chicken
Fish
Beans
Potatoes

Calories
295
416
394
358
128
279

TABLE OF FOOD VALUES AND COSTS

Iron
Fat
Protein
Carbohydrates
0.2
16
16
22
0.2
96
81
0
4.3
0
74
0
3.2
0.5
83
0
3.2
0.8
7
28
2.2
0.5
8
63

Cost/pound
0.60
2.35
1.15
2.25
0.58
0.33

Problem No. 2:
Formulate the linear programming model for the following problem.
A manager wants to know how many units of each product to produce on a daily basis in
order to achieve the highest contribution to profit. Production requirements for the products
are shown in the following table:
Product
A
B
C

Material 1 (pounds)
2
1
6

Material 2 (pounds)
3
5
0

Labor (hours)
3.2
1.5
2.0

Material 1 costs $5 a pound, material 2 costs $4 a pound, and labor costs $10 an hour.
Product A sells for $80 a unit, product B sells for $90 a unit, product C sells for $70 a unit.
Available resources each day are 200 pounds of material 1; 300 pounds of material 2; and 150
hours of labor.
The manager must satisfy certain output requirements: The output of product A should not be
more than one-third of the total number of units produced; the ratio of units of product A to
units of product B should be 3 to 2; and there is a standing order for 5 units of product A each
day.

Problem No. 1:
Decision variables:
X1 = amount of milk in the meal
X2 = amount of ground meat in the meal
X3 = amount of chicken meat in the meal
X4 = amount of fish in the meal
X5= amount of beans in the meal
X6= amount of potatoes in the meal
Objective Function:
Min Z= 0.6x1 + 2.35x2 + 1.15x3 + 2.25x4 + 0.58x5 + 0.33x6
Subject to:
1. 295x1 + 416x2 + 394x3 + 358x4 + 128x5 + 279x6 900
2. 295x1 + 416x2 + 394x3 + 358x4 + 128x5 + 279x6 1500
3. 0.2x1 + 0.2x2 + 4.3x3 + 3.2x4 + 3.2x5 + 2.2x6
4
4. 16x1 + 96x2 +
0.5x4 + 0.8x5 + 0.5x6
50
5. 16x1 + 81x2 + 74 x3 + 83x4 + 7x5 + 8x6
26
6. 22x1 +
28x5 + 63x6
50
Non-negativity constraint:

xi 0

i =1,2,3,4,5,6

Problem No. 2:
Decision variables:
X1 = units produced of product A
X2 = units produced of product B
X3 = units produced of product C
Objective Function:
Max Z = 26x1 + 50x2 + 20x3

(Note: Max profit: Selling price - cost)

Subject to:
1. 2x1 + x2 + 6x3
200
2. 3x1 + 5x2
300
3. 3.2x1 + 1.5x2 + 2x3 150
4. x1 (x1 + x2 + x3)
5. x1/ x2 = 3/2
6. x1 5
Non-negativity constraint:

xi 0

x1 - x2 - x3 0
2x1 - 3x2 = 0
i =1,2,3