Modeling with Linear

Programming

Chapter Two
Hamdy Taha

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• A LP model consists of 3 main components:

1. Decision variables that we seek to determine

2. Objective (goal) that we need to optimize (maximize
or minimize)
3. Constraints that the solution must satisfy

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 Formulating LP Problems
• One of the most common LP applications is the product
mix problem.
• Two or more products are produced using limited
resources such as personnel, machines, and raw
materials.
• The profit that the firm seeks to maximize is based on
the profit contribution per unit of each product.

• The company would like to determine how many units

of each product it should produce so as to maximize
overall profit given its limited resources.

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 Example 1 : Flair Furniture Company
 The Flair Furniture Company produces inexpensive tables
and chairs.
 Processes are similar in that both require a certain amount
of hours of carpentry work and in the painting and
varnishing department.
 Each table takes 4 hours of carpentry and 2 hours of
painting and varnishing.
 Each chair requires 3 of carpentry and 1 hour of painting
and varnishing.
 There are 240 hours of carpentry time available and 100
hours of painting and varnishing.
 Each table yields a profit of $70 and each chair a profit of
$50.

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 Flair Furniture Company Data
The company wants to determine the best combination of tables
and chairs to produce to reach the maximum profit.

The following table provides the basic data of the problem:

HOURS REQUIRED
TO PRODUCE 1
UNIT
AVAILABLE
HOURS THIS
DEPARTMENT TABLES CHAIRS WEEK
Carpentry 4 3 240
Painting and
2 1 100
varnishing
Profit per unit $70 $50
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 Flair Furniture Company
 The objective is to:
Maximize profit

 The constraints are:

1. The hours of carpentry time used cannot exceed 240
hours per week.
2. The hours of painting and varnishing time used
cannot exceed 100 hours per week.

 The decision variables representing the actual decisions

we will make are:
x1 = number of tables to be produced per week.
x2 = number of chairs to be produced per week.

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 Flair Furniture Company

 We create the LP objective function in terms of x1 and x2:

Maximize profit = 70x1 + 50x2

 Develop mathematical relationships for the two constraints:

 For carpentry, total time used is:
(4 hours per table)(Number of tables produced)
+ (3 hours per chair)(Number of chairs produced).
 We know that:
Carpentry time used ≤ Carpentry time available.
4x1 + 3x2 ≤ 240 (hours of carpentry time)

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 Flair Furniture Company

 Similarly,
Painting and varnishing time used
≤ Painting and varnishing time available.
2 x1 + 1x2 ≤ 100 (hours of painting and varnishing time)

This means that each table produced requires

two hours of painting and varnishing time.

 Both of these constraints restrict production capacity and

affect total profit.

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 Flair Furniture Company
The values for x1 and x2 must be nonnegative.
x1 ≥ 0 (number of tables produced is greater
than or equal to 0)
x2 ≥ 0 (number of chairs produced is greater
than or equal to 0)
The complete problem stated mathematically:
Max Z = 70 x1 + 50 x2
subject to
4x1 + 3x2 ≤ 240
2 x1 + x2 ≤ 100
x1 , x2 ≥ 0
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 Linear Programming model

Find x j that :
n
Max. (or Min.) Z   c j x j
j 1

such that :
n

a x
j 1
ij j  or  or  bi i  1,...., m

xj  0 j  1,....., n

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Example 2: The Reddy Mikks Company

• Reddy Mikks produces both interior and exterior paints from

two raw materials M1 and M2. The following table provides the
basic data of the problem:
Tons of raw material per ton of Maximum
daily
Exterior paint Interior availability
paint (tons)
Raw material M1 6 4 24
Raw material M2 1 2 6
Profit per ton ($1000) 5 4

• A market survey indicates that the daily demand for interior

paint cannot exceed that for exterior paint by more than 1 ton.
Also, the maximum daily demand for interior paint is 2 tons.
Reddy Mikks wants to determine the optimum mix of interior
and exterior paints that maximizes the total daily profit.
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Let x1 be the quantity of exterior paint produced
x2 be the quantity of interior paint produced

Max . Z  5 x 1  4 x 2
S .t .
6 x 1  4 x 2  24
x1  2 x 2  6
 x1  x 2  1
x2  2
x1 , x 2  0
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Example 2: The Whitt Window Company

• The Whitt Window company is a company with only three

employees which makes two different kinds of hand-crafted
windows: a wood-framed and an aluminum-framed window.
They earn $180 profit for each wood-framed window and $90
for each aluminum-framed window. Doug makes the wood
frames and can make 6 per day. Linda makes the aluminum
frames and can make 4 per day. Bob forms and cuts the glass,
and he can make 48 square feet of glass per day. Each wood-
framed window uses 6 square feet of glass and each
aluminum-framed window uses 8 square feet of glass. The
company wishes to determine how many windows of each
type to produce per day to maximize total profit.

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Let x1 be the number of wood-framed windows produced
x2 be the number of aluminum-framed windows produced

Max . Z  180 x 1  90 x 2
S .t .
x1  6
x2  4
6 x 1  8 x 2  48
x1 , x 2  0

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Example 3: The Diet Problem
• Ozark Farms uses at least 800 lb of special feed daily. The
special feed is a mixture of corn and soybean meal with the
following compositions:
Lb per lb of feedstuff
Feedstuff Protein Fiber Cost ($/lb)
Corn o.o9 0.02 0.30
Soybean meal 0.60 0.06 0.90

• The dietary requirements of the special feed are at least 30%

protein and at most 5% fiber. The goal is to determine the
daily minimum-cost feed mix.

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Let x1 be the number of pounds (lb) of corn in the daily mix
x2 be the number of pounds (lb) of soybean meal in the daily
mix

• The objective function is a cost function:” The cost in $ of the

feed mix”
• The LP problem:

Min .Z  0 . 30 x1  0 . 90 x 2
S .t .
x1  x 2  800
0 . 09 x1  0 . 6 x 2  0 . 30  x1  x 2 
0 . 02 x1  0 . 06 x 2  0 . 05  x1  x 2 
x1 , x 2  0

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After doing the required simplifications for the constraints, the
problem becomes:

Min .Z  0 . 30 x1  0 . 90 x 2
S .t .
x1  x 2  800
0 . 03 x1  0 . 01 x 2  0
0 . 21 x1  0 . 3 x 2  0
x1 , x 2  0

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