Linear

Programming
Previous year Questions
from 2016 to 1992
Ramanasri

2017

SHOP NO-42, 1ST FLOOR, NEAR RAPID FLOUR MILLS, OLD RAJENDER NAGAR, NEW DELHI.
WEBSITE: MATHEMATICSOPTIONAL.COM CONTACT: 8750706262/6363/6464 1
 2016
1. Find the maximum value of 5x  2 y with constraints x  2 y  1,2x  y  1, x  0 by y  0 graphically method.
[10 marks]
2. Maximize z  2x1  3x2  6x3
Subjected to
2x1  x 2  x3  5
3x 2  2x 3   6
x1  0, x 2  0, x3  0.
Is the optimal solution unique? Justify your answer. [20 marks]

2015

3. Solve the following assignment problem to maximize the sales

Territoreis
I II III IV V
A 3 4 5 6 7
B 4 15 13 7 6 [10 Marks]
Salesmen
C 6 13 12 5 11
D 7 12 15 8 5
E 8 13 10 6 9
4. Consider the following linear programming problem
Maximize Z  x1  2x2  3x3  4 x4
subject to
x1  x2  2x3  3x4  12 [20 Marks]
x 2  2 x3  x 4  8
x1 , x2 , x3 , x4  0
(i) Using the definition, find its all basic solutions. Which of these are degenerate basic feasible
solutions and which are non-degenerate basic feasible solutions?
(ii) Without solving the problem, show that it has an optimal solution and which of the basic feasible
solution(s) is/are optimal?
5. Solve the following linear programming problem by the simplex method. Write its dual. Also, write the
optimal solution of the dual from the optimal table of the given problem:
Maximize Z  2x1  4 x2  5x3
subject to
x1  4 x2  2x3  2 [20 Marks]
 x1  2x2  3x3  1
x1 , x2 , x3  0

2014
6. Solve graphically:

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 Maximize Z  6x1  5x 2
Subjet to
2x1  x 2  16
[10 Marks]
x1  x 2  11
x1  2x 2  6
5x1  6x 2  90
7. Find the initial basic feasible solution to the following transportation problem by Vogel’s approximation method.
Also, find its optimal solution and the minimum transportation cost

D1 D2 D3 D4 Supply
O1 6 4 1 5 14
Origins
O2 8 9 2 7 16 [20 Marks]
O3 4 3 6 2 5
Demand 6 10 15 4
8. Find all optimal solutions of the following linear programming problem by the simplex method:
Maximize Z  30 x1  24 x 2
Subject to
5x1  4 x 2  200
[20 Marks]
x1  32
x 2  40
x1 x 2  0

2013
9. Solve the following linear programming problem
Maximize Z  2x1  3x2  5x3
Subject to
x1  x2  x3  7 [10 Marks]
2x1  5x2  x3  10
x1 , x2 , x3  0
10. Solve the minimum time assignment problem
Machines
M1 M 2 M 3 M 4 [15 Marks]
J1 3 12 5 14
J 7 9 8 12
Jobs 2
J3 5 11 10 12
J4 6 14 4 11
11. Solve the following linear programming problem
Minimize Z  5x1  4 x2  6 x3  8 x4
Subjet to the constraints
x1  2x2  2x3  4 x 4  40
[20 Marks]
2x1  x 2  x3  2x4  8
4 x1  2x2  x3  x4  10
x1 , x2 , x3 , x4  0

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 2012
12. For each hour per day that Ashok studies mathematics, it yields him 10 marks and for each hour that he studies
physics, it yields him 5 marks. He can study at most 14 hours a day and he must get at least 40 marks in each.
Determine graphically how many hours a day he should study mathematics and physics each, in order to
maximize his marks? [12 Marks]
13. By the method of Vogel, determine an initial basic feasible solution for the following transportation problem:
Products P1 , P2 , P3 ,& P4 have to be sent of destinations D1 , D2 & D3 . The cost of sending product Pi to
destinations D j is Cij , where the matrix

10 0 15 5 
Cij    7 3 6 15 [12 Marks]
 
 0 11 9 13
The total requirements of destinations D1 , D2 & D3 are given by 45, 45, 95 respectively and the availability of the
products P1 , P2 , P3 ,& P4 are respectively 25, 35, 55 and 70.

2011
14. Solve by simplex method, the following LP Problem:
Maximize, Z  5x1  x 2
Subject to constraints,
3x1  5x2  15 [12 Marks]
5x1  2x2  10
x1 , x 2  0
15. Write down the dual of the following LP problem and hence solve it by graphical method:
Minimize Z  6 x1  4 x 2
Subject to constraints
2x1  x 2  1 [20 Marks]
3x1  4 x2  1.5
x1 , x2  0

2010
16. Construct the dual of the primal problem:
Maximize Z  2x1  x2  x3
Subject to the constraints
x1  x 2  x3  6
[12 Marks]
3x1  2x 2  3x3  3
 4 x1  3x2  6x3  1
x1 , x2 , x3  0
17. Determine an optimal transportation programme so that the transportation cost of 340 tons of a certain type of
material from three factories to five warehouses W1 ,W2 ,W3 ,W4 ,W5 is minimized. The five warehouses must
receive 40 tons, 50 tons, 70 tons, .90 tons and 90 tons respectively. The availability of the material at F1 , F2 , F3 is
100 tons, 120 tons, 120 tons respectively. The transportation costs per ton from factories to warehouses are
given in the table below :

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 W1 W2 W3 W4 W5
F1 4 1 2 6 9
[30 Marks]
F2 6 4 3 5 7
F3 5 2 6 4 8

Use Vogel's approximation method to obtain the initial basic feasible solution.

2009
18. A paint factory produces both interior and exterior paint from two raw materials M1 and M 2 . The basic data is
as follows:
Tons of raw material per ton of Maximum
daily
Exterior paint Interior paint availability
Raw Material M1 6 4 24
Raw Material M 2 1 2 6
Profit per ton (Rs. 1000) 5 4
A market survey indicates that the daily demand interior paint cannot exceed that of exterior paint by more than
1 ton. The maximum daily demand of interior paint is 2 tons. The factory wants to determine the optimum
product mix of interior and exterior paint that maximizes daily profits. Formulate the LP problem for this
situation [12 Marks]

19. Solve the following linear programming problem:

Maximize Z  3x1  5x2  4 x3
Subjet to
2x1  3x2  8
[30 Marks]
3x1  2x2  4 x3  15
2x2  5x3  10
x1 , x2 , x3  0

2008
20. Find the dual of the following linear programming problem: [12 Marks]
Max Z  2x1  x2  x3
Subjet to
x1  x2  3x3  8
4x1  x2  x3  2
2x1  3x2  x3  5
x1 , x2 , x3  0
21. Solve the following transportation problem: [30 Marks]
Destinations
D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 Availability
F1 2 1 3 3 2 5 50
F2 3 2 2 4 3 4 40
Factories
F3 3 5 4 2 4 1 60
F4 4 2 2 1 2 2 30
Demand 30 50 20 40 30 10 180
by finding the initial solution by Matrix Minima Method

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 2007
22. Put the following in slack form and describe which of the variables are 0 at each of the vertices of the constraint
set and hence determine the vertices algebraically:
Maximize Z  4 x  3 y
Subjet to
x  y4 [12 Marks]
x  y2
x, y  0
23. Solve the following by Simplex method:
Maximize u  4 x  3 y
Subjet to
x  y 1 [30 Marks]
x  2y  4
x, y  0

2006
24. Given the programme [12 Marks]
Maximize u  5x  2 y
Subjet to
x  3 y  12
3x  4 y  9
7x  8 y  20
x, y  0
25. Use the simplex method to solve the problem [30 Marks]
Maximize u  2x  3 y
Subjet to
 2x  3 y  2
3x  2 y  5
x, y  0

2005
26. Put the following program in standard form: [12 Marks]
Minimize Z  25x1  30x2
Subjet to
4x1  7x2  1
8x1  5x2  3
6x1  9x2  2
x1 , x2  0

27. Use the simplex method to solve the problem [30 Marks]

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 Maximize Z  5x1  2x2
Subjet to
6x1  x2  6
4x1  3x2  12
x1  2x2  4
and x1 , x2  0

2004
28. Use simplex method to solve the linear programming problem: [12 Marks]
Max Z  3x1  2x2
Subjet to
x1  x2  4
x1  x2  2
x1 , x2  0
29. A travelling salesman has to visit 5 cities. He wishes to start from a particular city, visit each city once and then
return to his starting point. Cost of going from one city to another is given below:
A B C D E
A  4 10 14 2
B 12  6 10 4
C 16 14  8 14
D 24 8 12  10
E 2 6 4 16 
You are required to find the least cost route. [15 Marks]
30. A department has 4 technicians and 4 tasks are to be performed. The technicians differ in efficiency and tasks
differ in their intrinsic difficulty. The estimate of time (in hours), each technician would take to perform a task is
given below. How should the task be allotted, one to a technician, so as to minimize the total work hours? [15
Marks]

Task
I II III IV
Technician
A 8 26 17 11
B 13 28 4 26
C 38 19 18 15
D 19 26 24 10

2003
31. For the following system of equations [12 Marks]
x1  x 2  x3  3
2x1  x2  3x3  4
Determine:
(i) All basic solutions
(ii) All basic feasible solutions
(iii) A feasible solution which is not a basic feasible solution.

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32. An animal feed company must produce 200 kg of a mixture consisting of ingredients X1 and X 2 daily. X1 costs
Rs. 3 per Kg and X 2 costs Rs. 8 per Kg. No more than 80 Kg of X1 can be used, and at least 60 Kg of X 2 must be
used. Formulate a linear programming model of the problem and use Simplex method to determine the
ingredients X1 and X 2 to be used to minimize cost. [15 Marks]
33. Find the optimal solution for the assignment problem with the following cost matrix: [15 Marks]
 6 1 9 11 12 
 
 2 8 17 2 5 
11 8 3 3 3 
 
 4 10 8 6 11 
 8 10 11 5 13 
Indicate clearly the rule you apply to arrive at the complete assignment.

2002
34. Using Simplex method [12 Marks]
Maximize Z  45x1  80 x2
Subjet to
5x1  20x2  400
10x1  15x2  450
x1 , x2  0
35. Using simplex method maximize [15 Marks]
Maximize Z  5x1  3x2
Subjet to
x1  x2  2
5x1  2x2  10
3x1  8 x2  12
x1 , x2  0
36. A company has 3 factories A, B and C which supply units to warehouses X ,Y and Z . Every month the
capacities of the factories per month are 60, 70 and 80 units A, B and C respectively. The requirements of X ,Y
and Z are 50, 80 and 80 respectively. The necessary data in terms of unit transportation cost in rupees, factory
capacities and warehouse requirements are given below: [15 Marks]
X Y Z
A 8 7 5 60
B 6 8 9 70
C 9 6 5 80
50 80 80 210
Find the minimum distribution cost.

2001

37. Compute all basic feasible solutions of the linear programming problem [12 Marks]

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 Maximize Z  2x1  3x2  2x3
Subjet to
2x1  3x2  x3  8
x1  2x2  6x3  3
x1 , x2 , x3  0
And hence indicate the optimal solution.
38. Using duality or otherwise solve the linear programming problem [12 Marks]
Minimize Z  18 x1  12x2
Subjet to
2x1  2x2  3
3x1  2x2  3
x1 , x2  0
39. A manufacturer has distribution centers at Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai. These centers have available 30, 50 and
70 units of his product. His four retail outlets require the following number of units: A, 30: B, 20; C, 60; D, 40. The
transportation cost per unit in rupees between each center and outlet is given in the following table:

Retail outlets
Distribution Centers
A B C D
Delhi 10 7 3 6
Kolkata 1 6 7 3
Chennai 7 4 5 3

Determine the minimum transportation cost. [20 Marks]

2000

40. An explosion in a factory manufacturing explosives can occur because of

(i) Leakage of electricity,
(ii) Defects in machinery,
(iii) Carelessness of workers or
(iv) Sabotage.
The probability that there is a leakage of electricity is 0.20, the machinery is defective is 0.30, the workers are
careless is 0.40, there is sabotage is 0.10. The engineers feel that an explosion can occur with probability
(i) 0.25 because of leakage of electricity,
(ii) 0.20 because of defects in machinery,
(v) 0.50 because of carelessness of workers and
(vi) 0.75 because of sabotage.
Determine the most likely cause of explosion. [20 Marks]
41. Two unbiased coins are tossed once (independently) and the number X of heads that turned up is noted. A
number is selected at random from X , X  1 and X  2 . If Y is the number selected, find the joint distribution of
X and Y . Also obtain the expectation of XY . [20 Marks]
42. Solve the following assignment problem for the given assignment costs: [20 Marks]

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 Person
I II III IV V
1 11 17 8 16 20
2 9 7 12 6 15
Job
3 13 16 15 12 16
4 21 24 17 28 26
5 14 10 12 11 13

1999

43. A police department has the following minimal daily requirements form police officers during its six shift
periods:-
Minimal Number
Time of Day Period
Required
2 a.m.-6 a.m. 1 22
6 a.m.-10 a.m. 2 55
10 a.m.-2 p.m. 3 88
2 p.m.-6 p.m. 4 110
6 p.m.-10 p.m. 5 44
10 p.m.-2 a.m. 6 33

An officer must start at the beginning of a 4-hour shift and stay on duty for two consecutive shifts (an 8-hour
tour). Any one starting during period 6 stays on duty during period 1 of the next day. The objective of the police
department is to always have on duty the minimal number required in a period but to do so with the least
number of officers. Develop the corresponding linear programming model. [20 Marks]
44. Show that a problem in the theory of games can be expressed as a linear programming problem. [20 Marks]
45. Respond True or False to the following, justify your answer in case of False:
(i) If the number of primal variables is much smaller than the number of constraints, it is more efficient to
obtain the solution of the primal by solving its dual.
(ii) When the primal problem is non-optimal, the dual problem is automatically infeasible.
(iii) An unrestricted primal variable will have the effect of yielding an equality dual constraint.
(iv) If the solution space is unbounded, the objective value always will be unbounded.
(v) The selection of the entering variable from among the current non-basic variable as the one with the
most negative objective coefficient guarantees the most increase in the objective value in the next
iteration.
(vi) In the simplex method, the feasibility conditions for the maximization and minimization problems are
different.
(vii) A simplex iteration (basic solution) may not necessarily coincide with a feasible extreme point of the
solution space.
(viii) If the leaving variable does not correspond to the minimum ratio, at least one basic variable will
definitely become negative in the next iteration. [20 Marks]
46. Develop mathematical model of a balanced transportation problem. Prove that it always has a feasible solution.
[20 Marks]
47. Find the optimal assignment for the given assignment costs:
Machine
1 2 3
1 5 7 9 [20 Marks]
Job
2 14 10 12
3 15 13 16

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48. Give the economic interpretation of duality in linear programming. [20 Marks]

1998
49. Prove that a basic feasible solution to a linear programming problem must correspond to an extreme point of
the set of all feasible solutions. [20 Marks]
50. Solve the unbalanced assignment problem in minimization where
12 10 15 22 18 8 
 
10 18 25 15 16 12 
[Cij ]  11 10 3 8 5 9 [20 Marks]
 
6 14 10 13 13 12 
 8 12 11 7 13 10 
51. A bank has two tellers working on savings accounts. The first teller handles withdrawals only. The second teller
handles depositors only. It has been found that the service time distributions of both deposits and withdrawals
are exponential with a mean service time of 3 minutes per customer. Depositors and withdrawers are found to
arrive in a Poisson fashion throughout the day with mean arrival rate of 16 and 14 per hour. What would be the
effect on the average waiting time for depositors and withdrawers if each teller could handle both the
withdrawals and deposits? What would be the effect if this could only be accomplished by increasing the service
time to 3.5 minutes? [20 Marks]
52. A bookbinder processes the manuscripts of five books through the three stages of operation, viz., printing,
binding and finishing. The time required to perform the printing, binding and finishing operations are given
below:
Processing Time (in hours)
Book Printing Binding Finishing
1 50 60 90
2 100 70 110
3 90 30 70
4 70 40 80
5 60 50 110

Determine the order in which books should be processed in order to minimize the total time required to process
the books. Find the minimum total processing time. [20 Marks]

1997
53. State the Transportation problem in general terms and explain the problem of degeneracy [20 Marks]
54. Use simplex method to solve the following Linear Programming Problem:
Maximize Z  4 x1  10 x 2
Subjet to
2x1  x2  50
[20 Marks]
2x1  5x2  100
2x1  3x2  90
x1 , x2  0
55. In factory, there are six jobs to perform and each should go through two machines A and B in the order A, B. The
processing timings (in hours) for the jobs are given below. Determine the sequence form performing the jobs
that would minimize the total elapsed time T. What is the value of T?

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 Jobs
J1 J2 J3 J 4 J5 J6
[20 Marks]
Machines A 1 3 8 5 6 3
B 5 6 3 2 2 10

1996
56. Solve that linear programming problem:
Maximize Z  3x1  5x2
Subjet to
x1  4
x2  6
3x1  2x2  18
x1 , x2  0
If the cost coefficient of x1 is kept fixed, find the range for the cost coefficient of x 2 without affecting the
optimal solution. [20 Marks]
57. A tax consulting firm has four service stations (counters) in its office to receive people who have problems and
complaints about their income, wealth etc. The number of arrivals averages 80 persons in an eight hour service
day. Each tax adviser spends an irregular amount average service time is 20 minutes. Calculate the average
number of people waiting to be serviced, average time a person spends in the system and the average waiting
time for a person. What is the expected number of idle tax adviser at any specified time? [20 Marks]
58. Solve the assignment problem represented by the following for minimization of costs. Find also alternate
solutions if any.
I II III IV V VI
A 11 24 60 13 21 29
B 45 80 74 52 65 50
C 43 30 93 39 47 35 [20 Marks]
D 76 44 29 51 41 34
E 38 13 59 24 27 27
F 5 58 55 33 19 30
59. A company has four plants P1 , P2 , P3 , P4 from which it supplies to three markets M1 , M2 , M3 . Determine the
optimal transportation plan using MODI method from the following data giving the plant to market shifting
costs, quantities available at each plant and quantities required at each market: [20 Marks]

Plants Required at
Market
P1 P2 P3 P4
M1 21 16 25 13 11
M2 17 18 14 23 13
M3 32 27 18 41 19
Available at plant 6 10 12 15 43

60. Determine the

Maximum Z  P1P2 ...Pn
subject to the constraints
n
 ci pi  x , 0  pi  1 (i  1,2,...n)
i 1

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 (assume that ci  x  i )
61. Determine the optimal sequence of jobs that minimizes the total elapsed time required to complete the
following jobs and find the total elapsed time. The jobs are to be processed on three machines M1 , M2 , M3 in
the same order M1 , M2 , M3 and processing times are as below:
Job
A B C D E F G
M1 3 8 7 4 9 8 7
Machines
M2 4 3 2 5 1 4 3
M3 6 7 5 11 5 6 12
Find also the idle times for the three machines.

1995

62. Solve the following linear programming problem:

Maximize Z  x1  2x2  3x3  x4
Subjet to
x1  2x2  3x3  15
[20 Marks]
2x1  x2  5x3  20
x1  2x2  x3  x4  10
x1 , x2 , x3 , x4  0
63. Solve the transportation problem below for minimizing the cost:

Store Availability
Costs
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 9 12 9 6 9 10 5
2 7 3 7 7 5 5 6
3 6 5 9 11 3 11 2
4 6 8 11 2 2 10 9
Requirement 4 4 6 4 6 2 22
[20 Marks]
64. There are five jobs each of which must go through two machines A and B in the order A, B. Processing times are
given below:
Job 1 2 3 4 5
Time for A(in hours) 7 3 11 5 12
Time for B(in hours) 4 8 9 10 6

Determine a sequence for the jobs that will minimise the elapsed time. Compute the total idle times for the
machines in this period [20 Marks]

1994
65. Solve by using simplex method

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 Maximize Z  3x1  2x2  5x3
Subjet to
x1  2x2  x3  430
[20 Marks]
3x1  2x2  460
x1  4 x2  420
x1 , x 2 , x3  0
66. Consider the following data:
Destinations
1 2 3 Capacities
1 2 2 3 10
Sources 2 4 1 2 15
3 1 3 x 40
Demands 20 15 30
The cost of shipment from third source to the third destination is not known. How many units should be
transported from the sources to the destinations so that the total cost of transporting all the units to their
destinations is a minimum? [20 Marks]

1993
67. Use simplex method to solve:
Maximize x0  x1  3x2  2x3
Subjet to
3 x1  x2  2 x3  7
[20 Marks]
 2x1  4 x2  12
 4 x1  3 x2  8 x3  10
x1 , x 2 , x3  0
68. A Departmental Head has four subordinates and four tasks are to be performed. The subordinates differ in
efficiency and the tasks differ in their intrinsic difficulty. His estimates of the times each man would take to
perform each task is given in the effectiveness matrix below. How should the tasks be allocated one to one man,
so as to minimize the total man hours?
Man
I II III IV
A 8 26 17 11
[20 Marks]
Task B 13 28 14 26
C 38 19 18 15
D 19 26 24 10

1992

69. Solve the following linear programming problem

Maximize Z  3x1  2x2
Subjet to
x1  x2  7 [20 Marks]
x1  x2  2
x1 , x2  0

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70. The following table gives the cost for transporting material from supply points A, B,C, D to demand points
E , F , G, H , J :
To
E F G H J
A 8 10 12 17 15
From B 15 13 18 11 9
C 14 20 6 10 13
D 13 19 7 5 12
The present allocation is as follows:
A to E 90; A to F 10; B to F 150; C to F 10
C to G 50; C to J 120; D to H 210; D to J 70
(i) Check if this allocation is optimum. If not, find an optimum schedule.
(ii) If in the above problem the transportation cost from A to G is reduce to 10, what will be the new
optimum schedule? [20 Marks]

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