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Lecture 1-2 Basic Operations Research Concepts

This document presents an example operations research problem about allocating production between two mines to minimize costs while meeting supply requirements. It describes the problem verbally, then formulates it mathematically by: 1) defining decision variables X and Y for number of operating days per week for each mine, 2) developing linear constraints for ore production and maximum operating days, and 3) defining the objective function to minimize total operating costs. The mathematical model represents the problem with linear equations and inequalities to find optimal values for X and Y.

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19 views15 pages

Lecture 1-2 Basic Operations Research Concepts

This document presents an example operations research problem about allocating production between two mines to minimize costs while meeting supply requirements. It describes the problem verbally, then formulates it mathematically by: 1) defining decision variables X and Y for number of operating days per week for each mine, 2) developing linear constraints for ore production and maximum operating days, and 3) defining the objective function to minimize total operating costs. The mathematical model represents the problem with linear equations and inequalities to find optimal values for X and Y.

Uploaded by

lokezhengyan22
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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UEMT 3113 OPERATIONS RESEARCH AND

OPTIMIZATION

Basic Operations Research Concepts

UNIVERSITI TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN(UTAR)


DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL AND MATERIAL ENGINEERING
LEE KONG CHIAN FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE
INTRODUCTION
“OR is the representation of real-world systems by mathematical models together
with the use of quantitative methods (algorithms) for solving such models, with a
view to optimizing.”
Mathematical model consists of:
➢ Decision variables – Unknowns to be determined by the solution to the model.
➢ Constraints – Represent the physical limitations of the system.
➢ Objective function – set of mathematic equations
➢ Non negativity restrictions/constraints – an implicit (or “understood-to-be’) restriction is that
variables (x1, x2 ) cannot assume negative values.
➢ Optimal solution – Identification of a set of variable values which are feasible (satisfy all
the constraints) and lead to the optimal value of the objective function.
INTRODUCTION

An optimization model seeks to find values of the decision variables that


optimize (maximize or minimize) an objective function among the set of all
values for the decision variables that satisfy the given constraints.
TWO MINES EXAMPLE
The Two Mines Company own two different mines that produce an ore which,
after being crushed, is graded into three classes: high, medium and low-grade.
The company has contracted to provide a smelting plant with 12 tons of high-
grade, 8 tons of medium-grade and 24 tons of low-grade ore per week. The
two mines have different operating characteristics as detailed below.
Mine Cost per day (RM) Production (tons/day)
High Medium Low
X 180,000 6 3 4
Y 160,000 1 1 6
Consider that mines cannot be operated in the weekend. How many days per
week should each mine be operated to fulfil the smelting plant contract ?
GUESSING
To explore the Two Mines problem further we might simply guess how many days
per week to work and see how they turn out.
• Work one day a week on X, one day a week on Y
This does not seem like a good guess as it results in only 7 tones a day of high
grade, insufficient to meet the contract requirement for 12 tones of high-grade a
day. We say that such a solution is infeasible.
• Work 4 days a week on X, 3 days a week on Y
This seems like a better guess as it results in sufficient ore to meet the contract.
We say that such a solution is feasible. However it is quite expensive (costly).
We would like a solution which supplies what is necessary under the contract at
minimum cost.
SOLUTION
What we have is a verbal description of the Two Mines problem. we
need to translate that verbal description into an equivalent mathematical
description. In dealing with problems of this kind we often do best to
consider them in the order:
• Variables
• Constraints
• Objective
This process is often called formulating the problem (or more strictly
formulating a mathematical representation of the problem).
ASSIGN VARIABLES
These represent the "decisions that have to be made" or the "unknowns".
We have two decision variables in this problem :-

X = number of days per week mine X is operated


Y = number of days per week mine Y is operated

Note here that X ≥ 0 and Y ≥ 0.


DEVELOP CONSTRAINTS

It is best to first put each constraint into words and then express it in a
mathematical form.
ore production constraints - balance the amount produced with the quantity
required under the smelting plant contract
Ore
High - grade 6X + 1Y ≥ 12
Medium - grade 3X + 1Y ≥ 8
Low - grade 4X + 6Y ≥ 24
DEVELOP CONSTRAINTS
days per week constraint - we cannot work more than a certain
maximum number of days a week e.g. for a 5 day week we have
X≤5
Y≤5
INEQUALITY CONSTRAINTS
We have an inequality here rather than an equality. This implies that we may produce
more of some grade of ore than we need. In fact we have the general rule:
given a choice between an equality and an inequality choose the inequality
For example - if we choose an equality for the ore production constraints we have the
three equations 6X+Y = 12, 3X+Y = 8 and 4X+6Y = 24 and there are no values of X
and Y which satisfy all three equations (the problem is therefore said to be "over
constrained").
For example the values of X and Y which satisfy 6X+Y = 12 and 3X+Y = 8
are X = 4/3 and Y = 4, but these values do not satisfy 4X+6Y = 24.
The reason for this general rule is that choosing an inequality rather than an equality
gives us more flexibility in optimizing (maximizing or minimizing) the objective.
IMPLICIT CONSTRAINTS
Constraints such as days per week constraint are often called implicit
constraints because they are implicit in the definition of the variables.
OBJECTIVE
Again in words our objective is (presumably) to minimize cost which is
given by

Cost = 180,000 X + 160,000 Y


MATHEMATICAL REPRESENTATION
Minimize
Cost = 180,000 X + 160,000 Y
Subject to
6X + Y ≥ 12
3X + Y ≥ 8
4X + 6Y ≥ 24
X≤5
Y≤5
X, Y ≥ 0
FLOW CHART TO DEVELOP THE MATHEMATICAL PROBLEM
Formulation of Mathematical Problem

Assign Decision Variables

Develop Constraints

Develop single Objective Function

Obtain optimal solution


CONCLUSION
✓ All variables continuous (i.e. can take fractional values)
✓ A single objective (maximize or minimize)
✓ The objective and constraints are linear i.e. any term is either a
constant or a constant multiplied by an unknown (e.g. 24, 4x, 6y are
linear terms but xy or x2 is a non-linear term)

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