Unit Three Unconstrained Optimization

It is known that economics is a science of choice. If we want to undertaken an economic

project, say producing a certain product, there may be several possible ways of doing it.
However, one or more of them will be more important than others from the point of view
of some criteria. Thus, the main duty of optimization problem is choosing the best
alternative according to the specified criteria.

In economics we usually use the objective of profit maximization or cost minimization

as the most common criteria to select the best alternative to carry out the project. In
economics, optimization problem is a general heading which represents both
minimization and maximization problem. Optimization means ' the quest for the best".
To solve optimization problem, first we should formulate the objective function which
will be maximized or minimized. This function includes dependent and independent
variables. The independent variables are referred to as choice variables because the
economic unit chooses their magnitude to optimize the objective function.

3.1 Functions of One Independent Variable

What is unconstrained function? Some objective functions involve constraints and

others do not. Functions which do not involve constraints are referred to as
unconstrained functions and the process of optimization is said to be unconstrained or
free optimization.

Given the function which is continuous and differentiable, it is said to have a

maximum value at a point where it changes from an increasing to decreasing function
where as it is said to have a minimum value at the point where it changes from decreasing
to increasing functions. The values of x at which the function is at its minimum or
maximum point are known as critical values. The given function should satisfy two
conditions in order to decide about maximum and minimum value at a particular point.
These conditions are called order conditions.

a) Conditions for minimum value

1. First order condition
(Necessary condition)
2. Second order condition
(Sufficient condition)

b) Conditions for Maximum value

1. First order condition
(Necessary condition)
2. Second order condition
(Sufficient Condition)

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However, the second derivative of the function may be equal to zero in some cases.
When , the second derivative test would be inconclusive. Thus, we should take
the successive derivative test to determine whether the function is at its extremum point
or the point of inflection. Evaluated at a critical point if the first non - zero value of a
higher order derivative is an odd numbered derivative, then the function is at the point of
inflection. If the first non - zero value of a higher order derivative is an even numbered
derivative, the function is at it's relative extremum with positive value the derivative
shows the relative minimum and with negative value the derivative indicates the relative
maximum point.

Example
Find the minimum and maximum values of the function

Solution
The first order condition is .We can determine the critical values using this
condition. Thus,

or or
Thus the critical values are or or .
We should test the second order condition at these points to know whether the function is
at its relative maximum or minimum point.

At , Thus, the function is at its relative minimum

point at x = 0.
At x = 2,
=144-120 +12
. Thus, the function is at its relative minimum point at .
At x = ½,

=
=
Therefore, the function is at its relative maximum point when .

3.1.1 Economic Applications

Revenue functions
As you remember revenue represents the amount of income that the firm generates either
from the sale of the products or providing services. Therefore,

Total Revenue =

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It can be written as
TR = P x Q
Where P is price and Q is quantity.
The firm can maximize its total revenue when
or (First order condition)

and or 0 ( Second order condition )

Example
1. A farmer wants to send his perishable product to a city market as soon as possible. He
has estimated that he can send now 1.5 tones of the product per day and can get a price of
2,500 birr per tones. If he waits, he can get a price increase of 20 Birr per tones per day
but the quantity of the product to be supplied will be reduced by 0.01 tones per day. For
how many days should he wait so that his revenue becomes a maximum?

Solution
Let x be the number of days waiting, total revenue of the firm is

Revenue is maximized when

and < 0

Thus, -

At x = 12.5,
Therefore, the farmer should wait for 12.5 days to maximize he's revenue.

2. Suppose a 200- room hotel in Addis Ababa will rent all its rooms when it charges 125
Birr per night per room. However, from past experience the manager knows that for each
5 birr increase in rate per night per room, 4 rooms remain unoccupied per night. What
rent per room will maximize total revenue per night?

Solution
Let x be increase in nightly rent per room

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Total revenue is maximized when <0

When x = 12.5, Thus, total revenue is maximized when . The

rent per room per night that should be charged to which maximizes revenue is
Rent = 125 + 5(12.5) = 125+ 6.5
= 187.5 Birr per room per night

Profit functions
Do you remember the conditions that should be satisfied for profit maximization? What
are they? As we know that the main objective of every firm is profit maximization.
Therefore, it wants to know the level of output which maximizes profit.
Total profit = Total revenue - Total cost
= TR – TC
Where represents total profit, TR is total revenue and TC is total cost. We have
discussed above that there are first orders and second order conditions for maximizing
profit. The first order condition that must be fulfilled for maximizing profit is that the
slope of total revenue (marginal revenue) has to be equal to the slope of total cost
(marginal cost). That is

The second order condition that has to be satisfied is that the slope of marginal revenue
must be less than the slope of marginal cost. In other words, the marginal cost curve has
to cross the marginal revenue curve from below. That is

<0 <0

Slope of <

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Let us do the following examples to make it clear.

Example
1. Suppose a monopolist has a demand curve and average cost curve
, where P is price per unit and Q is the number of units of output. Determine
the profit maximizing level of output and price of this monopolist.

Solution
It is clear that total profit ( ) = Total Revenue (TR) - Total Cost (TC) but TR = PQ.
Thus we should rewrite the demand function in the form of price expressed in terms of
quantity. That is
2P = 106 - Q
P = 53

Thus,

And

Profit is maximized when

MR = MC
53 - Q = 5 + Q

53 - 5 = Q + Q

48 = Q

Q=
Q = 46.15

However, this information is not sufficient enough to conclude that it is the profit
maximizing level of output. Thus it must fulfill the following condition at this point.

When Q = 46.15,

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 Now we are confident enough to conclude that Q = 46.15 is the profile maximizing level
of output of the monopolist as this level of output satisfies both of the above conditions.
The profit maximizing level of price is

Cost Functions
Costs represent the amount of expenditures that firms incurred in the production process.
It includes both implicit and explicit cost. Thus, firms want to minimize these costs.

Given Total Cost (TC) = f (Q), where Q is output, Firms can minimize total cost if and
only if
i)

ii) >0

Example

1. Suppose the total cost of producing Q units of a certain product is described by the
function where TC is the total cost stated in Birr.
Determine the amount of output which minimizes average cost.

Solution
Average cost (AC) =

AC =
AC is minimized when
And

However, output should be positive. Therefore, Q = 500. We should check the second
order condition at this point to reach to our conclusion.

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When Q= 500, =

= = >0
Thus, the level of output which minimizes average cost is Q = 500 units.

2. Find the minimum point of the average cost function

Solution
Applying the same conditions

Therefore, AC is at its stationary point when Q = 5. The rate of change of the slope of AC
with respect to output is

When Q = 5,

=
= 0.4+0.2 = 0.6 > 0
Thus, the second order condition for a minimum value of AC is satisfied when Q = 5.
The actual value of AC at its minimum point will be

Exercise

Solve the following questions based on the information given above.

1. The owner of the orange grove must decide when to pick one variety of oranges.
She can sell them for 8 birr a bushel if she sells them now, with each tree yielding an
average of 5 bushels. The yield increases by one - half bushel per week for the next five
weeks but the price per bushel decreases by 0.5 birr per bushel each week. When should
the oranges be picked for maximum return?

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2. If a firm faces the demand schedule P = 90 - 0.3Q how much does it has to sell to
maximize sales revenue? -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. For the non - linear demand function P = 750 - 0.1Q what output will maximize
the sales revenue?
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4. What is the maximum profit a firm can make if it faces a demand function
and the total cost function
?-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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5. ABC Company is planning to market a new model of product X. The management

collects information from retailers that how many units of good X they would buy for
various prices. From this survey, it is determined that the unit demand function is

The fixed costs to the company for production of good X are found to be 28,000 birr and
the cost for material and labor to produce each unit of good X is estimated to be 8 birr per
unit. Determine the price that the company should charge to maximize its profit.
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6. Find the profit maximizing level of output for a firm with the total cost function
and total revenue .

3.2 Functions of Several Independent Variables

Given the function Z = f(x, y), the objective function z to be maximum or minimum, it
must satisfy both of the order conditions.

The first order conditions are

= 0 and =0
This means, the first order total differential of the function is zero ( ).
However, there are two sets of second order conditions
a) To be maximum , and < 0 ------------------ (1)

b) To be minimum >0, and >0

The other second order condition for both to be at maximum and minimum value is
( )( ) > ( )
Alternatively, we can determine the second order sufficient condition using the concept
of total differential of the differential of the function which is denoted by

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 --------------- (2)

But we know that (Young’s Theorem)

-------------------------------------- (3)
Then the second order condition for any value of and not both zero
indicates that the function is at its maximum whereas shows that the
function at it minimum point. However, for any value of and ,
if and only if and .
if and only if and .

Given the quadratic function , the discriminant, which is symmetric

determinant, is formed by putting the coefficient of the squared variable on the principal
diagonal and dividing the coefficient of the non squared term equally between the off-
diagonal positions as follows

Where the first principal minor of the discriminant and is the

second principal minor. The sign definiteness of the given function can be described in
terms of sign restriction on these principal minors.
U is positive definite iff and .
U is negative definite and
For n-variable quadratic form of the function, the discriminant becomes

It has n- number of principal minors. The necessary and sufficient condition for sign
definiteness is that all principal minors must be greater than zero for positive definiteness
and they have to alternate in sign as is negative for negative definiteness.

The total differential expressed in equation (3) above is in a quadratic form. As a result,
the discriminant is a determinant that contains the second order partial derivatives as its
elements. This determinant is referred to as Hessian determinant.

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 And are the first and second principal minors
respectively.
By now we can express the sign defiantness of using the sign of these principal
minors and thereby we are able to identify the second order sufficient conditions for the
extremum of the function as
is positive definite iff And . In this case, the
function achieves its minimum.
is negative definite iff And . This indicates
that the function is at its maximum.

Considering the function of n- choice variables

The first order condition for the extremum of the function is which
leads to the fact that
The second order sufficient conditions are identified using the Hessian determinant

The sufficient condition for the maximum of the function is satisfied when
.where as for the minimum of the function all
of the Hessian principal minors must be positive.

Example
1. Given the function , find the maximum
value of the function.

Solution
The first order conditions that should be satisfied for maximum are
And

--------------------------------------- (1)

-------------------------------------- (2)

Taking equation (1) and (2) simultaneously, multiplying (1) by 2 and subtracting
equation (2) from this gives us

6x +2y = 160

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 12x +4y = 320

Substituting 20 in place of x in either of the two equation we will get y = 20

Taking the second partial derivatives,

And

Alternatively, , and
Thus, the function is maximized when x = 20 and y = 20.
The maximum value of Z is

3.2.1 Economic Applications

Example
1. A firm produces two products that are sold in two markets with the demand
schedules
P1 = 600 - 0.3Q1 and P2 = 500 - 0.2Q2. Production costs are related and the firm faces the
total cost schedule TC = 16+1.2Q1 + 1.5Q2 + 0.2 Q1Q2
 Determine the profit maximizing level of output and price in each market.
 Determine the maximum profit of the firm.

Solution
Total Revenue (TR) = TR + TR
=
=
TR = 600Q1 - 0.3Q + 500Q2 - 0.2Q
Profit ( ) = TR -TC
=

The first order conditions for maximum profit are

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 ------------------------------ (1)
And

------------------------------- (2)

Taking equation (1) and (2) simultaneously, multiplying equation (2) by 3 deducting it
from (1) gives us

0.6 Q1 + 0.2 Q2 = 598.8

Multiplying (2) by 3 0.2 Q1+ 0.4 Q2 = 498.5

0.6Q + 0.2Q2 = 598.8

-Q2 = - 896.7

Q2 = 896.7 units

Substituting this value for Q in (1), we get

So as to decide whether these output levels maximize the profit of the firm, we must
check the second order conditions at these levels of output. That is

, ,

Therefore, >

The corresponding Hessian determinant is

,
Therefore, profit is maximized when Q =896.7 and Q =699.1 and the profit maximizing
prices are
= 600 - 0.3 (699.1) = 500 - 0.2 (896.7)

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 = 600 - 209 .73 = 500 - 179.34
= 390.27 = 320.66
The maximum profit is

2. A multiplant monopoly operates two plants whose total cost functions are given by
TC1 = 8.5 + 0.03Q1 and TC2 = 5.2 + 0.04Q
If the demand function is given by , where Q= Q1 + Q , how much output
should the monopolist produce in each plant in order to maximize profit?

Solution
Total Revenue of the firm is

Total Profit
First order conditions for maximum profit are
= 60 - 0.14 Q - 0.08 Q = 0
0.14Q + 0.08Q = 60 ------------------- (1)
And
= 60 - 0.16Q - 0.08Q = 0
0.08Q + 0.16 Q = 60 ----------------------- (2)
Taking equation (1) and (2) simultaneously, multiplying (1) by 2 and reducing (2) from
it

0.14Q + 0.08 Q = 60
0.08Q + 0.16Q2 = 60

0.28Q1 + 0.16 Q2 = 120

0. 08Q1 + 0.16 Q2 = 60

Substituting this value in place of Q in equation (1), we get

0.08Q2 = 60 – 42
0.08Q2 = 18

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When we check the second order conditions at these levels of output

= - 0.14 < 0, = - 0.16, < 0, = - 0.08

Thus, (- 0.14) (- 0.16) > (-0.08)2

0.0224> 0.0064

This verifies that profit is maximized when Q1 = 300 and Q2 = 225

The total amount of output that the firm should produce to maximize profit is
Q = Q1 + Q2 = 525 units.
Therefore, P = 60 - 0.04 (525) = 60 - 21 = 39

3. Suppose a firm faces the production function . It sells its output at a

fixed price of 450 Birr a unit and can buy K and L at 15 Birr per unit and 8 Birr per unit
respectively. What input mix will maximize profit?

Solution
Total revenue

Total cost (TC) = LPL + KP

TC = 8 L + 15 K
Thus total profit ( ) = TR - TC
= 360 K0.4 L - 8 L - 15 K
The first order conditions for maximum output are

-------------------------- (1)

------------------------- (2)

Thus, we must have,

From (1)
------------------------------- (3)

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From (2) --------------------------------------- (4)
Substituting equation (3) in place of L in (4), we get

K =

K = (9.6) (13.5)
= (195.87) (13.5)
K = 2,644.25
Substituting the value of K in equation (3) enables us to determine the amount of labor
that should be employed in the production process.
L = (13.5) (2, 644.25)
= (41.19) (90.282)
L = 3,718.72
Checking the second order conditions at these values,
= -75.6 K L = - 75.6 (2,644.25) (3,718.72)
= - 0.0015 < 0

Therefore,

The corresponding Hessian determinant is

, .

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 Now we are confident enough to conclude that the firm will maximize its profit when it
employs 2,644.25 units of capital and 3,718.72 units of labor in the production process.

4. Suppose the monopolist sells a certain product in three separate markets and the
demand functions facing the firm are

And the cost function is

Determine the amount of output that should be sold to maximize profit. Identify the
prices charged in each market to maximize profit.
First we should construct the total revenues for each market. These are

Therefore, the total profit function is

-------------------------(1)

First order conditions

We can check the second order condition using the sign of the principal minors of the
Hessian determinant. The corresponding Hessian determinant is

Evaluating the successive principal minors,

It indicates that is negative definite. Thus, the monopolist can maximize its profit
when it sells 20 units of out put out of which 6 units at a price of 57 birr per unit in

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market 1, 9 units at a price of 60 birr per unit in market 2 and 5 units at a price of 45 birr
per unit in market 3.

Exercise

Do the following questions based on the above examples.

1. What are the conditions for the optimization of a function Y = f(x, z)?
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2. A firm produces two products which are sold in separate market with demand
functions
and the cost function is where
How much should the firm charge in each market to maximize profit?
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3. A Multipant monopoly operates two plants whose cost functions are
And its demand function is
,
How much should it produce in each plant to maximize its profit?
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4.A firm selling in a perfectly competitive market where the ruling price is 40 birr can
buy inputs K and L at prices per unit of 20 birr and 6 Birr respectively and operates with
production function Q = 21 K L , what is the maximum profit ?

3.3 Unconstrained Envelope Theorems

The previous section deals with the way how the maximum or minimum value of the
function depends on the value of the independent variables under consideration.
However, in economic theory economists are usually interested in how the optimal value
of a function depends on some parameters such as tax rates etc.

Although these parameters are assumed to be constant during the process of

optimization, they may vary according to the economic situation. Therefore, what
happens to the optimal value of the objective function when these
parameters change?

Considering the firm which produces an output Q using L units of labor as input, and its
production function is given by . Suppose the price of the product is and that
of labor is , the theory of the firm states that the firm chooses the amount of labor L
which maximizes profit. The profit function is

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Considering as the optimal amount of labor when the prices are and , then
the maximal profit of the firm is represented by

This function is known as the firms indirect profit function. According to the envelope
theorem, the derivative of the indirect profit function with respect to is the partial
derivative of the direct profit function with respect to , evaluated at namely
.

In this case the derivative will be positive which indicates that as the price of the
product increases, the profit of the firm increases.

Similarly, the envelope theorem states that the derivative of the firm’s profit function
with respect to is . In this case the derivative is negative which shows that
an increase in the price of an input that is wage rate decreases the maximal profit of the
firm.

The following graph shows how the indirect objective function envelopes the direct
objective function.

Fig.3.1 Envelop Curve

Each of the inverted U-shaped curves is the graph of direct profit function
as a function of for a given value of and . Each of these graphs show how changes
due to change in for a given value of and . To get the solution of the maximization
problem for any given value of , we should find the highest function for that value of .
Thus the graph of the indirect profit function is the locus of these highest points. Thus,
the indirect objective function is the envelop curve of the direct objective function at
various values of in our case.

Example
1. Suppose a firm is producing a certain product Q and wants to maximize its profit.
Suppose a tax rate is imposed on a production of Q. What is the effect of change in the
tax rate on total profit?

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 Total Profit ( ) =TR-TC

Thus,
The first order condition for maximum profit is

-------------------------------- (1)
From equation (1) we can determine the critical value of the profit function and let’s say
.
Second order condition for maximum profit is

Given the optimal output , the maximal profit is

The effect of change in the tax rate on total profit is determined by differentiating the
Profit function with respect to the tax rate. It is given as

=
However,
Therefore,

This result indicates that the rate of change of total profit with respect to tax rate is
negative. It implies that an increase in tax decreases the total profit of the firm.

2. Assume that the demand and the total cost functions of the monopolist are P=24-
3x and C= x2+8x respectively. Determine the rate of change of the profit function with
respect to the tax rate when a tax rate of 4 Birr per unit of production is imposed.
Total profit

Determining the critical value applying the first order condition

0

Second order condition is

Therefore, is the optimal amount of output.

Then

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 =

Exercise
Do the following questions based on the information above.

1. What does the envelope theorem states?

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2. What is the difference between direct objective function and indirect object function?
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3. What happen to total profit of the firm when there is an increase in wage rate given
other factors?
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4. A firm has the demand function P = 100 - 0.01Q and the cost function TC = 50Q +
30,000 and a tax of 10 Birr per unit is imposed. What will be the profit maximizing price
and quantity before and after tax?
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Determine the rate of change of total profit ( ) with respect to the tax rate (t)
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