UNIT 2 LESSON 2

This lesson is a discussion lesson following from lesson 1

Read this word problem carefully:

A firm make two types of sleeping bag namely Cool and Executive. Each Cool requires 2 hours for
cutting, 5 hours for sewing and 1 hour for waterproofing. Each Executive requires 1 hour for cutting, 5
hours for sewing and 3 hours for waterproofing. The firm has at most 14 hours for cutting, 40 hours
for sewing and 18 hours for waterproofing per day. The firm makes a profit of N$50 per Cool and N$30
per Executive.

Our task is to model this word problem into a linear programming problem.

In-text:
Read the word problem again.
What do you think is the objective of the firm? Is it to maximize profit or to minimize costs in this
particular case?

You notice that the problem does not mention anything about costs. Rather, it gives you the profit
margins. Thus, the objective of the firm is to maximize profit.

This firm’s profit depends on the number of Cool sleeping bags made and sold and the number of
Executive sleeping bags made and sold.

It is time to choose your variables as follows:

Let c represent the number of Cools made and sold.

Let e represent the number of Executives made and sold.
Let P be the total profit made from Cools and Executives.

You can now write down the objective function as P = 50c + 30e .

The next thing to do is to look for the constraints in the word problem.
The constraints are on cutting time, sewing time and waterproofing time.

For cutting, 2c hours are required for all the c Cools and 1e hours are required for all the e Executives.
Total time required for cutting is therefore 2c + 1e. But this total time cannot be more than the total
time available for cutting. Hence the cutting time constraint is 2𝑐 + 𝑒 ≤ 14.

For sewing, 5c hours are required for all the c Cools and 5e hours are required for all the e Executives.
Total time required for sewing is therefore 5c + 5e. But this total time cannot exceed the available 40
hours for sewing. Hence the sewing time constraint is 5𝑐 + 5𝑒 ≤ 40.

Now it is your turn to formulate the inequality constraint for waterproofing.

Your inequality should be 𝑐 + 3𝑒 ≤ 18.

The last thing to do is to place conditions on the variable c and e. Since the number of Cool sleeping
bags and the number of Executive sleeping bags cannot be negative, the conditions are written as 𝑐 ≥
0 and 𝑒 ≥ 0.

Finally, you write out the modelled linear programming problem as follows:
Maximize P = 50c + 30e
Subject to 2c + e  14
5c + 5e  40
c + 3e  18
c0 ; e0

In the following examples, I will highlight only the important milestones. I ask you to pick up your pen
and paper so that you can actually verify each step that I take.

Example1
The manager of Cute Widgets must decide how many regular and deluxe widgets models of
widgets to produce. It requires 5 hours of finishing labour and 1 frame to produce one regular
widget and 8 hours of finishing labour and 1 frame to produce one deluxe widget. Only 12
frames and 80 hours of labour are available. The unit profits are N$10 for the regular model
and N$15 for the deluxe model.
Formulate this problem into a linear programming problem.
Solution

The objective is to maximize profit. What contribute to profit are the profit margin for each regular
widget and the profit margin for each deluxe widget.

Let us define the variables as follow:

Let r represent the number of regular widgets produced and sold.
Let d represent the number of deluxe widgets produced and sold.
Let P be the profit from all the regular and deluxe widgets produced and sold.

Objective function is therefore 𝑃 = 10𝑟 + 15𝑑.

There are two constraints namely the finishing labour time constraint and the number of frames
constraint.

For the finishing labour time constraint, the inequality is 5𝑟 + 8𝑑 ≤ 80.

For the number of frames constraint, the inequality is 𝑟 + 𝑑 ≤ 12.

Since number of widgets cannot be negative, the conditions on r and d are 𝑟 ≥ 0 and 𝑑 ≥ 0.

Hence the complete linear programming problem is:

Maximize P = 10r + 15d

Subject to 5r + 8d  80
r + d  12
r0 ; d 0

Example 2
A landscaper wants to mix her own fertilizer containing a minimum of 50 units of phosphates,
240 units of nitrates and 210 units of calcium. Brand 1 contains 1 unit of phosphates, 6 units
of nitrates and 15 units of calcium. Brand 2 contains 5 units of phosphates, 8 units of nitrates
and 6 units of calcium. Brand 1 costs $250 per kilogramme; brand 2 costs $500 per
kilogramme. Model this information into a linear programming problem.
Solution
The objective is to minimize cost. What contribute to cost are the cost per kilogramme of brands 1
and 2.

Let x be the amount (in kilogramme) of brand 1. Then the cost for x kilogramme of brand 1 is 250x.
Let y be the amount (in kilogramme) of brand 2. Then the cost for y kilogramme of brand 2 is 500y.
Let C be the total cost. Then C = 250x + 500 y .

The constraint on content of phosphates is x + 5 y  50 .

The constraint on content of nitrates is 6 x + 8 y  240 .

The constraint on content of calcium is 15x + 6 y  210

Take note of the direction of the inequality signs. This is as a result of the restriction imposed by the
word “minimum” in the first sentence of the word problem.

Since the amount of ingredients cannot be negative, the conditions on x and y are x  0 and y  0 .

The final model of the word problem is thus:

Minimize C = 250x + 500 y

Subject to x + 5 y  50
6 x + 8 y  240
15x + 6 y  210
x0 ; y0